The Ties That Bind
by Jade MacGrath
Summary: After a period of crisis due to Edward's return, The Cullens move to Chicago to start a new life. Edward's decision to live alone forever is put to the test when Bella meets a girl with unexpected ties to their immortal family... Endless Waltz sequel, R
1. Reunion

Title: The Ties That Bind

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Nothing mine, all belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Sad but true.

Pairings: Carlisle/Esme, Rosalie/Emmett, Jasper/OC (Bella Cullen), Edward/OC (Elizabeth St. John)

Beta: EmoTWiLiGHT

Author's note: This fic is the sequel of 'Endless Waltz', you have to read it in order to understand what's going on... Twenty years had passed since the finale of the first fic and here is the rest of Bella's story. The title of the fic come from the homonym Bruce Springsteen's song.

* * *

**Bella**

I could hear the rain hitting on the windows. It was the second, no, the third day of heavy rain in a row… Thank God we had eaten properly before the storm began, I really wouldn't like to go to the stables and choose which one of our horses I felt like sacrificing. I was laying on the couch, reading a book, and my head rested on Jasper's chest. He was also reading, but with one hand he was stroking my hair. The fire in the fireplace irradiated light and heat in the living room, but I could barely feel it on my hard, perfect vampire skin. It was something nice to look at, though. I sighed, and closed my book. I moved to get in his lap and hide my head against him, with a deep sigh. Jasper kissed my forehead and hugged me. God, this would never get old for me. Never.

"So? Do you still want to go to Dublin tomorrow?" he softly said to me.

"Dublin sound nice," I said, already imagining our bike trip to the Irish capital. "If the bad weather continues, we could also make a trip to London later this week…"

Japer rolled his eyes, laughing. "How many times can a girl go see the Tate Modern before she becomes sick of it?"

"Quite a lot."

Especially considering I had been doing it for the last twenty years.

Twenty years… once I wouldn't have even conceived the idea of living _a day_ outside the coven… but things had dramatically changed when I brought back Edward.

I had no idea of what I had done, back then. How could I? Everyone was crazily happy to have Edward back in the family, alive and well, after years spent mourning him. Jasper and I decided to postpone the wedding for a few months, and we all devoted to help Edward recover after his long captivity. He kept saying he was fine, but we didn't believe him. We were just waiting for him to ask our help. Eventually, he did.

I was the one that had saved him, so I saw nothing wrong when Edward started to get closer to me. We spent lot of time together, hunting, taking walks... He was the one that had known my mother better than everyone else in the family, I loved hearing him talk about her, now that he knew my mom was never angry at him for leaving. I had gained a new brother and a friend, and everything was fine for once. No catastrophes or twists.

I was so eager to help that I didn't realize how much Jasper was suffering. Thanks to his power, he knew perfectly that what Edward was feeling for me had nothing to do with the feelings a brother should feel for a sister… He tried to make me realize the truth without addressing the question directly, but I didn't want to listen. I couldn't believe Edward would do something like that, try to steal me from his brother… Edward knew I loved Jasper with all myself.

Then, one day, I started to see the signs Jasper had already noticed in Edward, and I felt like dying. He was right. Edward reserved his crooked smile only for me. His eyes lit up when I entered a room. His embraces lasted always a second more than licit. He always tried to spend more and more time alone with me… Such realization hit me when I was walking in the woods with Edward, after hunting a couple of deer. I couldn't help myself, and I asked him what he thought was happening between us. The look in his eyes was enough of an answer. But whatever reaction he was expecting from me, the frightened look I gave him after he had told me what he felt for me wasn't what he hoped to see. I ran to Jasper in his library, and I hugged him, begging for forgiveness. I had sworn I would've never hurt him… but I did. Again. And I couldn't forgive myself.

I told him what had happened. Jasper told me everything was alright, but I knew it wasn't. It wouldn't be until both of us would stay in Canada, with the rest of the family. We were discussing where to go and for how long, when Esme and Carlisle told us that Edward had left on his own moments before. Carlisle told us what we already knew: Edward had fallen in love with me, because of who I was, what I had done for him and of my incredible resemblance with his lost love. He had confessed to Carlisle before leaving that he had really tried to steal me away from Jasper, and the guilt he felt after realizing his mistake and that his love wasn't reciprocated made him decide to stay away from the family until he would be able to see me just as a little sister.

Like I needed to feel more guilty. Trying to help the family, I drove a rift right in the middle of it. I literally begged Jasper to take me away, didn't matter where. Edward was Carlisle's first son, the first companion he ever had. I couldn't look him and Esme in the eyes anymore, knowing that I was the reason he had left.

We first moved to Boston, where I devoted myself to give back all the objects in my box to the people that had lost a dear one in Volterra because of the Volturi. Then, one year later, we ended up in Ireland. I realized once we were in Dublin that the information I had was wrong. Dublin was the wrong place... the agency that organized that trip had closed in the meanwhile, and every record had been destroyed. Trying to find the right people would be like searching a needle in a haystack… but I had time, and I really didn't want to go home, so I started working. But even my stubbornness couldn't do much against the total absence of clues. And the only ghosts I could ask for help were in Volterra… prisoners of that vampire sorceress, Elissa.

When I didn't resolve the enigma of the box, I moved on and started searching information on her. Elissa was almost as old as the other Volturi, I discovered. Her ability worked like mine, so to speak… but I helped spirits to leave this world. She used her power to keep them captive and use them as a sort of private army. The fear I had felt when she had saw me in the dungeons made me feel grateful I couldn't sleep anymore. She would constantly be in my nightmares otherwise.

A few months after we settled in Ireland, we heard that Emmett and Rosalie had come to Europe too, for their honeymoon, and decided to stay. They were living in France. Carlisle and Esme stayed in Canada alone, and even if my heart ached to imagine them in that big, empty house, I couldn't bring myself to ask Jasper to take me back. We kept in touch with phone calls, letters and emails, though… but Edward was like he had disappeared out of thin air. The only one he talked to was Carlisle. He never tried to call us. It didn't help my guilt.

I put my wedding dress at the bottom of a chest, along with the wedding rings and all the rest of my wedding-related things. How could I think of that, when my family was disbanded? I knew that Esme wasn't happy that Jasper and I lived like husband and wife without the blessing of a priest, but I refused to think of it. I would marry, and Jasper agreed with me, only when the family would be reunited once more.

Jasper and I started to wear claddagh rings after a year or so of living in Ireland, and we started to think of those silver rings as our wedding bangs. We had bought an old noble residence that was falling to pieces, and we slowly brought it back to its ancient splendor. It was in the middle of nowhere… exactly where I wanted to be. The garden was huge; when I wasn't reading or hunting, I devoted myself to it. The sunny days were a little too much for us, but we lived so isolated that it didn't matter if we accidentally exposed ourselves to the sun and started sparkling.

And then, five years later, Eamonn O'Shea came in our lives.

During one of our hunting trips in Connemara, we ran into a small group of nomadic vampires – a female, two males. They kind of mocked us for our feeding habits, but they let us be. The female, Ella, was fascinated by the loyalty and love she could see between me and Jasper, and looked with envy at our matching rings. The two males, Darragh and Ryan, looked at Jasper's battle scars with open curiosity, but they didn't ask questions. We left after a couple of days. Two days after we were back home, the killings started.

If we had doubts on who was the killer, we stopped having it when we met again Ella, Darragh and Ryan. They had followed us. Since you don't want to eat humans you can't prevent us to from doing it, was Darragh's simple answer. We tried to make it on our own, but Darragh, the leader, was determined in taking what he thought was rightfully his. That included everything 'the strangers' had built in the previous years. So we decided to call some backup… namely Rosalie and Emmett, who took the first flight available to come and help us.

Only when Emmett took me in his arms and made me twirl in the air a couple of times I realized how much I had missed him and his booming laugh. Rosalie wasn't so good-inclined, though. She still hadn't forgiven me and Jasper for calling off the wedding and running away, years before. She kept on repeating that it wasn't my fault I looked that way or that Edward had fallen in love with me, and she hated the fact I wasn't still ready to recognize she was right and I was wrong. Since she was on the verge of one of her legendary rage outbursts and I was at the receiving end of it, we all decided to make her direct her unspeakable anger towards the nomads, and we immediately went looking for them in the forest.

They weren't expecting us to call help. And they really weren't expecting such help to be one of the Furies and her legally wedded husband. We asked them to leave, several times. There was no need for the bloodshed to continue or for someone to get hurt or killed. But they didn't listen… so we did the only thing in our power to make them stop.

The bonfire produced a high, dark column of smoke. We stayed there in complete silence, watching the flames, until we were sure the remnants of those three had been incinerated, then we went home. Incredible… I remembered clearly how much killing my first prey had upset me. Seven years later, I had dismembered three vampires with my fiancé, my brother and my sister, and upset wasn't the word I would have used to describe what I was feeling inside.

When did I change? How?

I didn't have the time to analyze myself further, because the nomads left us a horrible parting gift: they had kidnapped various children from the villages nearby and hid them somewhere in the forest, but we discovered it only when it was too late. And I couldn't see their ghosts, meaning that Ella, Ryan and Darragh didn't have unfinished business… especially with us. Ten children, hidden somewhere in the forest, with no protection or food… we immediately started searching for them, trying not to interfere with the human search parties.

I never felt more relieved in my life than the moment I finally found them in a hidden cave. I tried my best to look reassuring, and I guided them out of the forest and on the street for the nearest village with Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper. But one of the children refused to go. He was fascinated with our golden eyes… he thought we were the elves that lived in the forest. We said we were. We didn't think we were doing anything wrong, he was just a child, and he would eventually realize that there were no such things as elves in the forest.

Yeah, right.

Little Eamonn never stopped trying to find the way back to the house where 'the elves' had taken him and the others to make sure they were fine before sending them home. But we didn't know that yet. We said goodbye to Emmett and Rosalie, and kept living our simple, retired life. A couple of years later we restored the little farm that was in our property and started breeding horses. Once more, Jasper was a constant source of information. It reminded him of when he was younger and human… He had a brother and two sisters, I discovered. Two loving parents. An army of young ladies that hoped to seduce him and become Mrs. Whitlock. He also spoke fondly of the horse he had back then.

The following Christmas, we both give each other a horse as a gift. As a result, we were the two proud owners of two Arabian horses, probably the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen in my life. Jasper's horse was grey, a shade so light that it could be mistaken for white. I chose that specific color because it was the one his beloved horse had. But the one he gave to me… oh my. His coat color was of the darkest shade of black. It was a rarity between purebred Arabian horses. I named the horse Angelus, and Jasper named his Liath Macha, like one of the two horses that guided the chariot of Cúchulainn, an Irish mythological hero. Liath also meant 'grey' in Gaelic… it was the perfect name for that creature. But that horse had a devil inside of it, for sure. Jasper loved it for that reason as well, but it was a real annoyance having to deal with such a free spirit. Once it ran away, and we had to go look for Liath everywhere. I found it… well, a young man found it. His name was Eamonn, and in that occasion, I didn't notice his astonished look when he saw me. I was quite used by now to the admiring looks I received from men of all ages when I got out from my refuge. And I was too relieved to have found the horse to notice anything else beside Liath. Like Eamonn following me home, for example.

He was clever… he never tried to face us directly. He waited till all the other children, now young adults, were back in town, and only then they decided to come knocking at our door. Denying was impossible, they did the homework… maybe we weren't elves, but they knew we were supernatural creatures. They just didn't expect us to be vampires. They saw Ryan and Ella kill a couple of humans and drink their blood in front of them, so they were comprehensibly scared by us now. But their fear didn't last long. We were the ones that saved their lives… they trusted us once, and they chose to trust us again. We finally learned all their names (Eamonn, Emer, Dana, Gregory, Jack, Lynn, Isabel, Daniel, Peter and Michelle) and we decided it wouldn't hurt to have some human friends. We got particularly attached to Eamonn and Emer, now his girlfriend. I let her borrow my wedding dress when they decided to get married in our garden. It was like having a family again, especially because they decided they would be the farm's tenants and moved inside our property. Four years later, Emer was diagnosed with cancer… the day after she had discovered she was pregnant.

All of the sudden, it was like reliving my mother's story. I didn't want to lose Emer… she was just 25, she could have other children… but she was sure she could have her baby and then start the treatment. We spent months in incertitude, watching her belly grow and praying for a miracle. Emer's baby was born seven months later, because there was no time left for Emer to start the cure. Eamonn devoted to his wife, and Jasper and I took care of his baby girl, Abigail. It was supposed to be only a temporary solution, but Emer's death destroyed Eamonn... He couldn't even get close to Abby. That was why, after a couple of months, I went talking to him. Well… I didn't exactly talk. I punched him in the face and broke his jaw, shouting about how big of an idiot he was, that Emer wasn't there as a ghost because she knew she had no reason to stay behind (a good thing, I had discovered in those years spent dealing with ghosts), and that his little girl didn't need Jasper and me, but his real father. I told him everything about the circumstances of my birth, how my father and I never connected, how the blame of having caused my mother's death had driven a rift between us until I ran away from his house. That did the trick. Besides, Jasper told me I was really scary in that moment. Rosalie-like scary...

Anyway, Eamonn started to spend more and more time with Abby after my 'speech'. Who cared how had I convinced him?

After Eamonn and Abby moved out of our house, I immediately picked up the phone and begged Esme and Carlisle to come. I didn't realize what I had done until I heard Esme telling me that Carlisle had already booked the flight as we were speaking. While waiting for their arrival, Jasper and I (with Eamonn and the others, of course) tried to imagine how this meeting could go. They were sure no one would blame us for the getaway or me for how things had gone with Edward. We hoped they were right… and the moment we saw Carlisle and Esme in front of us, with those bright, happy smiles of theirs, Jasper and I realized our self-imposed exile was over.

We called Rosalie and Emmett as well, and I introduced them all to our human friends and little Abby. I noticed that all the girls plus Esme and Rosalie were chatting, maybe too much, with a weird glint in their eyes, but I was too busy with Abby to pay more attention to them. And I knew how Isabel and Michelle were after the third glass of wine…

Eamonn took advantage of the evening to tell us he wanted Jasper and me to be Abby's godparents. We already loved that baby like she was our child; we immediately accepted. He loved the fact we would be, without a doubt, around for all her life and beyond. Emer's death made him question many things about life and future. He now loved to have everything set and planned… just in case.

A week later, the girls were still planning something… and they didn't want me to know. Carlisle and the others had joined their ranks as well, and Jasper found himself in my same situation. Then, out of the blue, the entire Denali clan showed up on our doorstep, bearing gifts… and everything became clearer.

They had secretly planned our wedding! And they did it so fast and so good we didn't even have time to actually protest. Not that we wanted to. Silly us. We had waited for the family to be reunited to get married… we never thought that maybe our wedding could be the catalyst to make that happen.

The only thing that hurt me was that Edward wouldn't be there for the wedding. Twenty years hadn't been enough for Edward to forget whatever feelings had for me, apparently. I sighed, but like Tanya and Irina put it (and in a really colorful manner), Jasper and I had waited long enough for him to come back. We couldn't wait anymore, it wasn't right for us and most of all wasn't right for the rest of the family. The family that had loved us and supported us since I first stumbled on them oh so many years before.

The ceremony was exactly what Jasper and I had dreamt of. Rosalie and Esme wanted to do something bigger, but I knew that not even they could've made Dana, Lynn, Isabel and Michelle change their minds once they were set on something. I learned that years back as well.

We had the ceremony outdoors, after the sunset. And even if some raindrops menaced to ruin the party, it went on as planned… no, even better than that. We introduced the rest of the family to Irish traditional dances and music, and… and I never felt happier in my life. Now I got why Emmett and Rosalie kept on getting married so often… it was awesome!

I giggled madly when Isabel, Rosalie and Kate insisted Jasper take off and throw away my garter to the single men in the group plus Emmett (because Rosalie wanted to get married again but there were too many single girls in the party and she wasn't in the mood for fighting for the bouquet.. especially because we had something else planned for that moment). Then I turned to throw my bouquet at the girls (and I was aiming at Esme, who was sitting peacefully with Carlisle and watching us play. They never got married again after their first wedding… and Rosalie and I agreed it was definitely time for another ceremony). I took a deep breath, I closed my eyes, and threw the bouquet behind my shoulders. When I heard no cheering or Rosalie teasing Esme, I turned to see what went wrong.

I stared at Edward with my mouth wide open. He was holding the bouquet in his hands. I had to blink a couple times to actually believe what I was seeing. And I wasn't the only one…


	2. Return

**Edward**

I hadn't planned to be seen. At all. That man, Eamonn… I still didn't know how he managed to find my phone number. Something related to his 'second job', he said. He told me about Jasper and Bella's wedding, and when and where the ceremony would take place. I told him I wouldn't be there, because at that time it seemed the best solution in my eyes. I hurt my brother, caused a rift in the family, almost destroyed Bella and Jasper's happiness. I couldn't face Jasper after I tried to steal the love of his life from him, and I couldn't face Bella after her rejection branded itself in my mind.

Or at least, that was what I thought during that call. The moment the call ended, my heart started aching. With the exception of a few months, I had been living away from my family for forty years. Back in the years when my family was united and happy, I would've never conceived the idea of living out of it for so long.

I decided I could go to Ireland, watch the wedding from a distance, and then disappear again. But my emotions won over reason, and I hid too close to them, in their garden. I watched Bella dancing with a human newborn in her arms, and Jasper taking the baby girl from her to give her the most delicate of hugs before giving her back to her human father. I saw my family and Bella and Jasper's human friends dancing, singing and cheering. Bella giggled madly when her human friends plus Rosalie convinced Jasper to take the garter off of her leg and then throw it to the single men in their party. I looked away. After all the times I had seen Rosalie and Emmett's weddings and receptions, that part always embarrassed me. Jasper passionately kissed his bride, and then threw away the garter with a mischievous smile. A guy named Daniel caught it, laughing, and then all the girls asked Bella to throw her bouquet. Bella and Rosalie exchanged a look, and both glanced at Esme. I couldn't help but laugh a little. Good luck with convincing Esme and Carlisle to have another wedding ceremony. There weren't enough garters or bouquets in the world for that.

I would pale if I could. The bouquet landed exactly at my feet. For a second I thought of what my options were, and running away was still up on my list… Instead I took the bouquet in my hands, and stepped out of my hiding place. Everyone was staring at me with their mouths wide open except Bella, still turned. I knew it was just a matter of seconds before she saw me… And all of the sudden, our eyes met. Bella was as beautiful as I remembered her. She was looking at me like she could faint any second, her mouth was moving slightly but she couldn't bring herself to talk. Bella took a deep breath, and then she started moving in my direction. She kept looking at me straight in the eyes. I didn't break contact with her either, otherwise I would've noticed her right hand close into a fist. Before I could even start thinking of what to tell her, her fist collided with my jaw, and I found myself on the ground.

I heard colorful exclamations, sharp intake of breaths, suffocated laughers. I couldn't see her, but I knew Esme was sighing and looking at the sky, shaking her head. From where I was laying, I raised my head to look at my aggressor. Bella was hovering over me with an angry look. I knew it. It had been a mistake to come.

"That was for leaving," she said icily. Then she extended me her hand. I looked at her and her hand for a few seconds before taking her hand and getting back on my feet. Then the unexpected happened. Bella used my hand to pull me closer to her and hug me.

"And this is for coming back," she whispered in my ear. I could tell she was smiling. I was smiling too, relieved of how the situation turned out.

"And… Edward? Unless you're planning to become a girl and get married within next year… maybe you want to give me back the bouquet so I can throw it again…"

"Of course, sister," I said, giving her back the bouquet. It was a curious mix of roses, freesia and honeysuckle, the same flowers Jasper put in her back garden all those years ago when the family first discovered their relationship, if I remembered correctly. She took the bouquet in one hand and my hand in the other, and she took me to meet her human friends – I couldn't yet believe that she had so many loyal friends between them – and to reconcile with the rest of our family. Once again, Esme and Carlisle welcomed me as the prodigal son that had finally come back home. I didn't deserve so much. Rosalie would be a tough nut to crack, but I knew Emmett and Bella would try to speak to her in my favor. But the one I was the most worried about was Jasper. His face was seraphic, I couldn't tell what he was really thinking, especially because he was concentrated only on his beautiful wife... I smiled when I realized what he was really doing. Bella was his. She had been his from the first moment he laid eyes on her. He was just reminding me of that.

I slowly nodded. I had learned the lesson… But there was one thing I couldn't do, I couldn't consider her a little sister. There was too much of her mother in her for that. But a friend… that I could do, at least for now. Jasper felt my inner turmoil, and got closer to me while the girls and Bella were occupied with their game.

"I know what you want to tell me, Jasper, no need to…"

"I know what you still feel about her. The feelings have changed, of course, but they're still strong. And potentially dangerous."

"Are you afraid I might try again to steal her from you? Don't be."

"Let's make this clear. I don't care about me; all I care about is _her_. Bella tortured herself every single second of these last twenty years because she blamed herself for your getaway."

"But it wasn't her fault."

"Of course it wasn't. But now the family is happy and whole once more. Bella is happy. And things have to stay this way. The question is: can you make an effort and see her just as a family member?"

"She's your wife; I respect that. But I can't see her as a sister. Not yet, anyway."

Jasper was going to reply, when I saw Bella's arms hugging his shoulders from behind and kissing his neck.

"There you are! You missed all the fun. Esme caught the bouquet! Well, not exactly caught, it landed in her lap… anyway, she has to get married again! Oh, Rosalie and I will have so much fun in planning the ceremony!"

Jasper smiled, "You convinced her?"

"With some help from the other girls. But she wanted something in return…" she said, biting her lip. She let Jasper go and put herself in front of him. I frowned as well.

"What is it, my love?"

"Esme wants us to go back to living under the same roof… in the States. Chicago."

I was happy to hear it. It had been a long time since I saw my hometown, but Jasper and Bella didn't look so enthusiastic. They had built a life there… I could imagine they were sad at the idea of leaving their house, the farm and their friends. But when I finally saw them talking with the famous Eamonn I realized the real reason behind their sadness: they would be thousands of miles away from their infant goddaughter, Abby. For a second, I thought they were going to refuse and stay in Ireland, but as Bella put it while I was helping her packing her books, a couple of days after, that branch of her family would go on without them just fine. Now we had to concentrate on us and how to heal the tiny fractures still present in our family.

Bella laughed at the thought of us getting in a session of family therapy with a shrink. I laughed too. The young, silent girl I remembered had grown up; she was now witty and ironic, always smiling and ready to offer her help to complete strangers, so that they could find peace in whatever there was after death. I was still confused by her gift, though… I always thought we vampires were soulless creatures, that there was nothing for us after death, or that the only thing we could aspire to was hell. Bella was convinced that since she had been able to see Alice's ghost, vampires had immortal souls after all. According to her there wasn't only hell for us; we could still be awarded with paradise, or whatever its name really was.

At the beginning I didn't realize why Jasper had left us filling boxes in the library all alone, jealous as he was of his young, adorable wife. But after that conversation, and Bella's explanation of what her gift really meant to her, I could feel my feelings for her change. The creature in front of my eyes had stopped putting herself first in order to help others. She didn't need a man in her life that didn't know what to feel for her. She needed someone to protect her, even from herself. And Jasper knew that after I had spent some time alone with Bella, I would arrive at that conclusion. My brother was really good at manipulation... But like he had said to me, the only thing he cared about was Bella. And I could understand his desire to protect her at all costs. It was what I had felt for her mother.

**Bella**

I was happy Jasper let me talk to Edward alone. We needed to reconnect after all the years spent separated. And he didn't know how much my power evolved in the last years… the only good thing to have ever come out of my Quileute heritage. Jasper didn't exactly approve of Eamonn's and my decision to go to college to study 'the dark arts', as he called them, but I needed to know what I was getting into. I needed to study the supernatural world, since I was a supernatural creature myself. Eamonn was even more interested in that field than me. After we got our degrees he started doing research work dividing himself between Abby, the farm and the university. We nicknamed him 'The Professor' because he was always ready to start a lecture on whatever supernatural subject he was studying at the moment. It was very useful to have someone like him as backup, when I couldn't do my job on my own. It was only thanks to him that I solved the mystery around that box I had found in Volterra. Ironically much, I had been in the right place all along.

The village where Eamonn was raised was the same place from where those tourists left all those years before. Unfortunately my attempt to give back all the objects anonymously failed. Jasper and I had started to be a part of the community after Eamonn and the other kids adopted us; the villagers already suspected there was something weird in us, and when those objects started to appear out of nowhere they connected the dots and moved to our house… where they found all our human friends and their children. It took a lot of time, but once they realized we weren't dangerous they let us be. Like Eamonn, they saw the advantages of having two benevolent and immortal creatures as protectors of the village. In exchange for that and for a little help with the wild animals in the forests nearby, they kept our existence a secret. Like in La Push with the werewolves… everybody knew, no one talked about it. Esme and Carlisle were really impressed when I first told them this. It was a not-so-subtle attempt to convince them to move here, but, alas, it didn't work.

When the moment to say goodbye came, I was happy my heart was cold as stone and equally as strong. It would break, otherwise. But like I said to Edward, this branch of the family would move on without us just fine. Our residence, the farm, our beloved Angelus and Liath would be taken care of by Eamonn and the others, and they promised to write us lots and lots of letters and emails to keep me and Jasper up to date with what happened in the county and in the village. That made the separation bearable. But when it came to say goodbye to Abby… Jasper and I had made a huge mistake. We got too close to that baby. I felt like I was abandoning my child, and Jasper was feeling almost as sad as me. We came to Ireland looking for a shelter… we weren't prepared to find so much more on its shores. Maybe we would get lucky again in Chicago.

* * *

**Edward**

Once we arrived in Chicago, we immediately moved into the house Carlisle and Esme had previously bought for the family in the in the northern area of the city. Esme's hand was clearly visible in the furniture and in the renovation of the house… I missed that. Our cover story was always the same: Esme and Carlisle were a young couple that decided to adopt teenage children out of kindness of heart. Rosalie and Jasper would resume being the Hale twins; Emmett, Bella and I would be Cullens. Forging the documents took us a couple of days, days that we utilized to get used to the city, in order to meddle with the humans.

I decided to take a walk to my old house and to my parents' grave, to pay my respect. Ten minutes after I was out of the house, I heard Bella shouting my name and running in my direction.

"Finally! I thought you didn't hear me!"

"Bella? What are you doing here?"

"I'm coming with you. Emmett is busy playing Guitar Hero with Jasper, and I'm done with the chores Esme gave me, so I'm completely free."

"I'm going to the graveyard, Bella. I don't think…"

"I know. Carlisle told me. Thanks to my gift I spend more time around graveyards than I want to admit, but if you want to go alone, I'll…"

"No, Bella… I'm glad if you come with me."

Bella gave me a smug smile. "Good. So we can have a nice, long talk while we walk."

I chuckled. It seemed that Jasper wasn't the only manipulator in the family.

"What is it like? Coming back to the city where you lived as a human?"

"It's not my city anymore. It changed so much I barely recognize it."

"I won't have this problem. Forks is off limits for me… and the rest of the family. Sorry about that."

"Like it was your fault. You know they would do that again for you, in a heartbeat."

"Carlisle never told you? I didn't want to be changed at first."

"I didn't know that… so, how…?"

"I thought I was strong enough, but when I faced death… I got scared. Scared of losing the only family I ever had. Scared of losing Jasper. I chose this life because I couldn't bear to live separated from him… because I didn't want to cause him pain. But I mourned my lost mortality for many years, after the change."

"Does Jasper know?"

"Like I could hide anything from him. I tried, though. He's been… himself, you know? Perfect. Supportive. I didn't have problems adjusting to the diet or being around humans… but on the emotional side, well… it took me almost three years to find a balance. Going to Ireland revealed itself to be the best thing we could do."

"You have a nice house there. And a farm too, right?"

"We love the Irish countryside."

We walked in silence for a few minutes, and I wondered why Bella didn't tell me what was really on her mind. Except for the few moments we had spent in the library, this was our first chat alone, without our family around. The last time it happened, Bella ran away from me after I had told her I loved her. She was thinking of that awkward moment too… comparing the situations in very analytical way.

"Out of my head, Edward," she said with a little smile.

"Sorry. I just wondered why we weren't talking about… that."

Bella sighed. "If you're back, that means you stopped being in love with me. Right?"

I wished it was so simple.

"I've accepted that you love Jasper, not me. And I respect the vows you've both taken in front of God. I just need… more time. But staying away for so many years taught me that no sacrifice is too much if the alternative is being separated from my family."

"You didn't answer my question. And… that sort of scares me."

I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, and put my hands on her shoulders. "Bella… maybe at the beginning I was drawn to you because of your mother, but now I've had the chance of knowing you, the person you've become… what I'm trying to say is that the infatuation I had for you is gone. Whatever took its place, I don't know yet. But I do know one thing: I want to be part of your life."

"Cause my mother asked you this?"

"No. Because I want to."

"And I want you to be a part of my life as well. But I really can't see you as a brother. Probably because you weren't there teasing me mercilessly since the beginning, like Emmett," she said with a little laugh.

"Friends, then?"

"For now it will do. And now let's move… I want to see the graveyard. Just to know if I'll be busy at night during our stay here like I was in Ireland…"

"Rosalie told me some stories on what you can do. Bella… how can you bear it?"

Bella smiled. "It's what I am… what I was born for. I couldn't do anything different in my life. At the beginning I was really scared, but after I accepted this gift… what happened in Volterra was just the tip of the iceberg. The learning curve is so fast… it's unbelievable!"

"Still… it must be a burden, emotionally speaking."

"Sometimes it is. But it's really rewarding in the end."

**Bella**

Edward was staring at me with a weird look on his face. Whatever Rosalie told him made him worry for me. And what I just told him shocked him. But how could I explain what I could do? It was my vocation. I hated to say it but Sam had been right all along. It was my destiny. But if I hadn't became a vampire, I never would have had the force required to use this gift. Sometimes I felt drained… I, a vampire. What would've happened to me if I had stayed human? Would I have celebrated my 39th birthday?

Oh wait, if I had stayed human I would've died at 19. Stupid question.

I didn't know when exactly, but Edward's hand found mine and gently held it in his. I didn't mind. Friends did it, right? Or at least Dave and I did. My wedding ring, along with my engagement ring, was now in the safe in Carlisle's studio, together with all the others rings belonging to Emmett and Rose (and she had quite the collection of engagement rings). I couldn't help but smile while looking at the claddagh ring on my finger. To Jasper and me they were almost as important as our real wedding rings. Edward saw my reaction and gave the ring a closer look.

"What's this?"

"You never heard of claddagh rings? It's an Irish thing. If the heart is pointed at you, it means that you already belong to someone. I wore it for twenty years… the priest blessed this ring as well, during the wedding."

I caught my reflection in a shop window. If I could blush, it would make a nice pair with the goofy smile I had on my face. Edward laughed at me. Kinda difficult not to do it, actually… but what could I do? Jasper had that effect on me. Always had , always will… and I loved it.

"Not nice, brother. I'll get my revenge, though, don't think I'll forget!"

Edward gave me a puzzled look. "Revenge?"

"When you find someone."

I realized what I had said too late. Edward's smile disappeared from his face. I never saw him so sad.

"I'll never find someone else, Bella. The mere thought of allowing another woman in my life is an insult to your mother's memory."

"She told you to be happy and live your life. Don't deny it, I was there too."

"She also told me she would come back."

"Edward… in twenty years I never saw it happen. I'm sorry… she's gone. And this time I'm sure."

"She'll never be gone from my heart and mind."

"And from my heart and mind neither, but it's not the point. You know why I like what I can do? Because I help people move on. Life is never over, even when it seems it is."

"It's different."

"God, you're stubborn, aren't you? Unfortunately for you, so am I."

Edward rolled his eyes. "The reason why Jasper's wives are all tiny, pigheaded and annoying, I'll never understand."

I hit him on the head. "Oy! Watch your mouth! I'm not tiny at all!"

We ended up laughing so hard that people started looking at us with perplexed looks.

Suddenly, I felt observed. I stopped, and I started looking at the other side of the street. Someone was watching me… I felt it… and I could swear I had caught a glimpse of someone – girl or boy, I couldn't tell – disappearing in an alley…

"Bella? Is there something wrong?"

Good question. Was there something wrong?

I shrugged and smiled. "I… no, nothing. Let's keep walking."


	3. Elizabeth

****

Thanks so much to Twi-Hard Chickie, jbluvs2sing, Mandya1313, and imadoodlenoodle for the reviews!

* * *

**Bella**

Rosalie rolled her eyes and said no.

"No way in hell I'm going to school in that thing! Did I teach you _nothing_, Bella?"

"You taught me many things, Rose… but the Volvo stays. Period."

Better late than never, but I had my little revenge on Rosalie for changing my car without asking me first, all those years before! After the visit to the graveyard (Not as many ghosts as I expected, but I had already seen a couple I wanted to have a word with…) Edward and I passed near a car park, and since we needed a car to go to school we entered and gave a look around. After we pretended to drool at the most expensive ones, we – I – went straight for a second-hand blue Volvo that was almost the spitting image of the car I had when I was human. Edward wondered aloud while I was buying the car and what was with Swan girls and their love for old wrecks, making me giggle. But it wouldn't be right if we showed up at school in my Camaro or in Rose's Mercedes, even if we both loved our cars to pieces. We needed a normal car for the normal people we were pretending to be.

At the end, Rose resigned herself and sat in the backseat between Edward and Jasper. Emmett, being too huge for the backseat, sat next to me.

"Sis, not to bring back bad memories and stuff… but are you sure you wanna drive?"

"If what I've seen in Grand Theft Auto is any indication, Emmett, you're not getting anywhere near my car. Any of my cars. Got it?"

"Bella, this car is so old that you could get a thousand more bumps on it and hardly notice the difference. And keeping me away from the Lamborghini is pure cruelty!"

"So sue me. And… Rose? if you really don't like this car could change it with a pick-up truck… Because there was one at the car park and for a second I felt tempted," I said, exchanging an amused look with Edward. "We Swan girls love battered, slow trucks, after all…"

Rose's outraged expression made the rest of us laugh hard, but no one laughed harder than Emmett. Once he calmed down, he hit me playfully on the arm and told me to shut up and rev the engine already.

* * *

Our new school was named Lincoln Park High School. Edward and I would enroll as fourth-year students, while Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper will attend once again the senior year. That would give us at least a couple years of peace before moving again.

Used as I was to the schools at the reservation and Forks High School, I gave a perplexed look at the school's interior once we were done with the registration and got our schedules.

"That's… big."

"Just remember, little one… lay low, and everything will be fine," said Emmett, in one of his rare moments of seriousness.

"Not a problem, I spent my entire first life laying low at school. K, I have English Literature now… who has the same lesson?"

Rose checked her schedule. "I do... Off we go then. Jasper?"

"Coming…" said my husband, touching his head like he was in pain or something. Half a second later, I was already at his side.

"Something wrong?" I whispered.

"Nothing… teenagers and their emotional baggage. I'll get used to it in a couple of hours. Let's go… see you later guys," he said, bumping fists with Emmett and then with Edward. I was so happy they started again to get along, like two real brothers. It was the way things were supposed to be. Edward and Emmett had Physics now; we didn't have lessons in common that day, so we would see each other again at lunch.

The English Literature teacher was a middle-aged man that looked at me and Rosalie like he was daydreaming or something. I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes.

"Good morning. I'm Mr. Howe. Welcome to my class."

"Good morning," replied Jasper, with a cold tone. Whatever feeling he felt coming from Mr. Howe, didn't make him happy. "I'm Jasper Hale, and these are my sisters, Rosalie and… Bella."

"Good. You can take the seat in the second row. The two misses Hale… first row, by the window."

"Cullen," I corrected the man.

"Sorry?"

"It's Bella Cullen. We're adoptive siblings."

"Note taken. Mr. Hale, Ms. Hale, Ms. Cullen, to your seats, please…"

I walked with Rosalie to my seat, feeling all the eyes of the other students burning holes in my back. Rosalie and I both sat with grace in our seats, and we listened in silence to Mr. Howe's

analysis of Price and Prejudice. Ten minutes later, another student walked into the class. Mr. Howe sighed, annoyed.

"Miss St. John, thank you for joining us."

The polite tone he used with me and Rosalie was gone. The black-haired girl didn't seem to notice the hostility in his voice, or in the faces of the rest of her schoolmates, and she walked to the empty seat next to me. I saw a guy trying to make her trip on his foot. The girl saw it, but instead of walking past the obstacle she stepped hard on his foot with the heel of her shoes. The boy let out a tiny wimp from his tight-closed mouth, and I couldn't hide a smile. Rosalie was giving the girl an annoyed look instead. That St. John girl couldn't mine Rosalie's self-esteem or mine, but she could seriously mine a human girl's. We were without a doubt the three most beautiful girls in the room. Nice coincidence, we were all in the first row…

I smiled to her, but she gave me a hostile glare that almost frightened me. She had a silver bracelet on her right wrist; it was old, maybe ancient. The engraved motif was complicated, and it was very similar to a 

piece of Celtic jewelry I owned. The penchant earrings matched the bracelet and the pendant she was wearing around her neck. Why would a girl so young wear jewelry so old?

I wanted to introduce myself at the end of the lesson, but when the bell rang, she immediately left the class and disappeared in the crowd.

I saw her again at English, but she ignored my attempts to get to know her. The hostile glares directed at me were a constant during every lesson... By lunchtime, I was deadly curious about her name and her story.

My brothers and I gathered in the cafeteria, and we filled our trays with food we would never eat. I hated wasting it, but it was essential to keep the appearances. All the tables were already taken; not a single table available in sight… except one. The black-haired girl I saw during my morning lessons was sitting on her own, eating lunch and reading something from a notebook.

I heard Edward groan. Rosalie smirked.

"Friend of yours, Edward?"

Emmett laughed. "Edward and I had Biology with her. She was his lab partner."

"And?"

"Emmett, can you please taunt me later on this? Thanks."

Unfortunately for Edward, my big brother Emmett adored me. A pleading look from me, and he told us everything of the big fight between Edward and that girl over the outcome of their lab experiment.

"So thanks to her I've a 10-page essay to write for Thursday. Lovely."

"Look at the bright side, you don't have to write it with her."

"And of this I'm grateful to God, Emmett. That girl is a nightmare."

"Still," I said, "We'll have to share the table with her. Unless you want to eat right where you're standing."

"Sounds a good option to me, Bella."

I rolled my eyes and I walked to the table. She didn't seem to have noticed us… but she surely did when she saw us occupying the rest of the table. Her eyes fixed on Edward. He narrowed his eyes.

"Oh God, it's you again," said the black-haired girl with a hostile glare. "Leave. Now."

"It's the only free table," replied Edward with the same look.

"Not my problem."

"You're being quite rude."

She snickered. "So sue me, redhead."

"God, you have already introduced yourself, I see," said a brown-haired boy with bright blue eyes, just arrived near the table with a tray full of food. "It's ok, sit wherever you want," he added with a smile, sitting 

opposite her. "And forgive my friend, she had been raised by a pack of wolves. Oh, by the way… I'm Michael Gardiner. The bitch here is Elizabeth St. John."

"Hi… I'm Bella Cullen. These are my brothers and sister… Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Jasper and Rosalie Hale. Nice to meet you."

"Same here. Right, Lizzie?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and opened her soda.

"That's a yes. She's usually nicer than that, but she's having a bad day…"

"Mick," said Elizabeth, quietly. "I really don't want to hurt you, so please… don't make me."

It seemed a serious menace because Mick stopped talking immediately. I couldn't help but watch her again. Elizabeth was beautiful, as beautiful a human girl could be. She had perfect ivory skin and big, green eyes framed by long eyelashes. She didn't wear makeup, but in my opinion she didn't need any. You couldn't help but admire her face. But something didn't add up. My eyes flashed to the table were all the popular kids were sitting. I could see her there, somehow… God knew why.

After Mick's presentation, they both ignored us and we did our best to ignore them as well. We pretended to eat in silence, but Mick was feeling chatty and obliged Elizabeth, who he kept calling Lizzie, to talk with him.

"Come on. Even you, my beloved Ice Queen, need to have fun. And you love that band."

"I'm babysitting the girls, I can't move. And I have to check the photographs Gabe did for the journal. So unless you want to step by and watch cartoons all evening…"

"You should apply for the job instead of doing it for him. Your pictures are amazing."

"Like they would give it to me."

"Lizzie, it happened two years ago."

"And I'm still here at this table with you. What other proof do you need? Not that I miss being one of them, anyway," she said pointing with her head the table I had eyed before. So I was right… she had been one of the popular kids some time before our arrival.

She went back concentrating on her notebook, following her writings with her index. With a quick move, Mick stole the notebook from her.

"Well, look what we have here…"

"Mick, give it back! Now!"

"Music? You're back to composing? That's a big news, when did you start? And why you didn't tell me?"

"And which one of your questions do I have to answer to first? I'm just playing… I suck at composing, you know that."

"Right, that ballad you composed for your Grandma sucked so much that you have to play it at the piano every time you go see her at the retirement home."

"Playing," she repeated to her friend, taking back the notebook. "Not composing. I'm done with composing. It's a waste of time."

"Whatever you say, Lizzie… Are you going to eat that?" he asked then. Elizabeth gave a disgusted look at her barely touched tray and pushed it towards Mick.

"You don't eat food, you hate sunlight… do you still have a heartbeat, by any chance?"

Elizabeth sighed and gave him a really annoyed look. It probably wasn't the first time she heard that joke. If only Mick knew he was sitting next to five real vampires…

"Nice. It's Monday, so… music hall?"

"Yes. Thank God."

Suddenly lots of students got up from the tables and hurried in the corridor. Mick got up as well, but Elizabeth didn't move. Her lips were curled in a little smile… like she knew exactly what was going to happen.

"Sorry," I asked her. "What's happening?"

Death glare. Again. What the hell had I done to her?

"How should I know?"

"You give another impression, actually."

Elizabeth gave me a piercing look, and she rose to go in the crowded corridor with the others. We followed her, just in time to see the boy that had tried to make her fall being taken away from the police because he failed the surprise inspection in his locker. Again, I looked at Elizabeth. That smug smile was sort of… scary.

"Tell me you didn't," Mick whispered to her ear.

"It was a joint effort."

"Like he cared. Lizzie, Mark will realize it's you behind this trick."

"I'm not afraid of him."

In that moment, the boy, Mark, passed near us to be taken outside the school. He shot Elizabeth a glare full of distaste, the same look his friends were now giving her as well.

"Maybe you should," Mick murmured.

Elizabeth

_Maybe I should?_

Mick should know me better than that. After what I had been through, I didn't think there was anything left that could scare or upset me. And Mark and his cohorts were definitely not in my list.

Two years earlier, I was the uncrowned princess of this place. My father was an important lawyer, Mom worked at the community college as a Romanian teacher. Everything was perfect… then the storm came, and we lost our money, our house, everything. And the worst part of it was that my father was accused of stealing money from the company he worked for. Money that belonged to friends and little investors of this city. People started to hate us, but we kept our head high; we knew we were all innocent. But before the trial that would've proven my father's innocence - of that I never doubted - my parents died in a car accident. The brakes didn't work and the car ended up in the lake. They didn't get out in time.

When they told me about their deaths it was the one and only time I cried for them. I… stopped feeling after that. I was like anesthetized. I became The Ice Queen, as Mick nicknamed me. Mick was the only one of my friends brave enough to stay at my side till the end and beyond; like me, he was now ostracized by our former friends and some teachers as well. If they couldn't take out their resentment on my parents, they would settle for me and whoever had been stupid enough to have remained by my side.

I got lucky with my foster family. Grace and Allen Beckett were nice people, with a lot of experience with foster kids. Beside me in the house, there were two other children now, two orphaned girls aged three and five with sadder stories than mine. I would never admit it, but I liked being a sort of big sister to them. Being with them melted the ice walls in my soul. And most of all, they were the cutest blonde angels ever; I loved taking pictures of them. I loved taking pictures of whatever was beautiful to me. It didn't matter if it was a place, a plant or a person. Whatever caught my eye deserved a picture.

And Bella and Edward Cullen were no exception… I took pictures of them on the way to the cemetery the day before, and spent the night watching them. I never saw anyone more beautiful and perfect in my life. Especially the boy. I printed the pictures and put them on my wall, along with the others, with the absolute certainness I would never meet them again… Yeah, right.

I changed my opinion on Edward ten seconds after I met him. How could be someone so beautiful be so irritating? I almost felt guilty for being mean to Bella during our lessons together, cause she seemed a really sweet girl, but for some reason, Edward annoyed me to no end. And he was always ready to contradict me during that experiment in the Biology class. Always. I was this close to stab him with a scalpel! And the way he talked to me… I wouldn't call it 'patronizing', but it was really close to that. Like he knew what was right and wrong and I was just a stupid kid…

I took a deep breath and reminded myself that it was Monday. One free hour plus PE, that I always skipped thanks to a certificate attesting I had a congenital heart defect incompatible with sports. Two hours I spent in the music hall, playing Mozart and Debussy, my favorite composers… a little privilege I kept thanks to my music skills and the lack of pianists in the school's music program. It was the only time I could exercise, excluding when I went visit my grandmother and entertained the other guests for a couple hours in the afternoon on Saturdays. The only moment in which I could pretend I was still the old me, the one that loved playing the piano above everything and that stayed awake at night trying to compose… Grace and Allen couldn't afford piano lessons for me, and I wouldn't ever ask them that. I took photography as a surrogate hobby because my mother loved it. The last camera she had bought before dying was my most precious belonging. Wherever I went, that camera went as well.

I sat at the piano and sighed happily. I grazed the black and ivory keyboard, and then started playing Mozart's Turkish Rondo. I was completely absorbed in the music… so much that I didn't notice Edward Cullen entering the hall at first. But eventually, I did.

Edward Cullen. Again. I was so close to hit my head against the piano.

Did I anger the gods or something that day?

* * *

**So... what do you think about Elizabeth? Love her? Hate her? Let me know!**


	4. Friendship

**Hello! Thanks for the feedback on Elizabeth. My girl is a little tough right now but she'll definitely warm up to Edward in the following chapters. Thanks for the reviews!**

* * *

**Edward**

According to my schedule, I had a free hour just after lunch. Going to the library seemed the best option, since I had to pretend to study and write that paper, but I got distracted by some music… someone was playing Mozart's Turkish Rondo at the piano, in an impeccable manner. I couldn't help myself, and I went to the music hall.

I groaned when I saw who the pianist was. Elizabeth St. John, of all people. She was a talented musician, I gave her that, but her personality I couldn't stand. She was… irritating, plain and simple.

Reason told me that the best choice would be to leave that room and go to the library before Elizabeth noticed my presence and picked up a fight with me again. But the musician in me didn't want to move until the last note was played. I tried not to cringe when she raised her eyes from the keyboard and saw me there.

She heavily sighed. "Again? Are you stalking me or what?"

"I can think of a million things I rather do instead of stalking you, Elizabeth."

"Oh really? Well, I can think of a billion things I rather do instead of talking to you right now. Playing Mozart is on top of the list. So if you don't mind leaving…"

I found myself smiling. Instead of leaving, I walked closer to the piano and sat next to the chair where she had left her things, and the notebook with her scribbled notes. I eyed her music, and then I went back looking at her. Oh, if looks could kill… In the end she resigned to my presence and started playing again, and I went back to read her music. It was slightly unbalanced, she had clearly written down it fast before inspiration wore out, but I could see where she was going with that… it was definitely interesting. In that moment Elizabeth hit a wrong note.

"Damn it!"

She gave me a burning look.

"I have done nothing," I said.

"You distracted me!"

"I didn't!"

"You did!"

I sighed heavily. I closed my hands into fists so I wouldn't have the impulse to strangle her. And yet, a part of me found this… fun. Like when I was younger and human, and I couldn't stop teasing my cousin Celia when she was studying music. How weird.

Elizabeth rose from the piano and walked to me.

"Go. Away. Library, Student's Hall, another planet. I. Don't. Care!"

"You're overreacting. You play really well, why can't I just sit here and listen?"

The little compliment surprised her, but it didn't change her disposition towards me.

"It's the only moment of the week I get to play the piano, is it too much to ask I could exercise alone?"

The only moment? I frowned slightly. A pianist so good surely studied music at home. Still, she said that it was the only occasion she had in the entire week… something didn't add up.

I turned in silence, and walked out of that room. Five seconds after, I heard Elizabeth playing again.

What a strange girl.

My thoughts were soon occupied by the music she had written on that notebook. I couldn't stop thinking of it. I wrote the notes down on a piece of paper, and I began working on it. Those little defects in the melody irked me more than its composer. I kept working on it during lessons, and when the bell rang I was halfway through my job.

"So," asked Emmett with a malicious smile. "You saw your girlfriend again?"

"Elizabeth is not my girlfriend," I replied through gritted teeth.

"You know, there's a very thin line between love and hate," added Rosalie, with a smile that matched her husband's.

Bella smiled and took me under my arm. "Enough, you two, leave him alone."

"Careful, Emmett," Rosalie said with a fake alarmed tone, "she might change her mind about her favorite big brother!"

Even Jasper joined the laughs. Bella stopped laughing abruptly, though, and looked at a precise point in the parking lot.

There stood a black haired girl and five boys who were all bigger than her. It didn't take a genius to realize who the girl was.

Jasper watched the scene with a tense look on his face. "Elizabeth's in big trouble. They don't have good intentions."

"She was somehow involved in what happened earlier to that boy…" Bella said. "I heard the discussion she had with her friend."

"Retaliation," said Jasper, without detaching his eyes from the scene. We weren't close, but thanks to our hearing it was like we were next to Elizabeth.

"Things have changed, princess," said one of the guys. "You are not one of us anymore."

"Like I care."

"It should, because it means no one will raise a finger to help you."

Elizabeth laughed. "In the school's parking lot? In plain daylight? How stupid are you?"

The boys raised their fists, and Elizabeth took a defense position, scanning the area for help. I didn't have doubts she could handle herself in a fight; still, there were five boys and she was alone…

"Jasper," Bella said, looking at her husband. Jasper slightly nodded and used his power on Elizabeth's aggressors, so that no one would get hurt or in trouble. Immediately the boys walked away, with confused expressions on their faces. Elizabeth seemed confused as well, but before she could look in our direction we silently went to Bella's car and disappeared in the traffic.

**Elizabeth**

What. The. Hell. Happened?

If I didn't witness it with my eyes I wouldn't ever believed it. One second, Kyle and the rest of Mark's gang were ready to kill me, and the second after… I didn't even know how to explain. Suddenly they just… lost interest in me. Mark wouldn't be happy with them, of that I was sure…

"Lizzie! Are you fine?" said Mick, running towards me. "I just saw…"

"Yeah," I said, looking at my car and the flat tires. "I am. My car, not so much…"

"Mark, huh?"

"Who else? See? The cards were right after all."

"Again? Lizzie, you should stop believing every word your grandma says."

Mick didn't believe me. According to my grandmother, it was because he was a gage… someone that wasn't of gypsy origin. Both my grandmother and my mom were Kalderash; the story of how my family ran away from Romania and arrived in the United States was better than any other bedtime story when I was little. Grandma Helena taught me all I knew about my Kalderash heritage. That involved dancing, a lot of legends and tarot reading. She was revered as a seer in the tribe, or so my mother had always told me. Grandma always denied this thing, but everything she predicted with her tarots always happened. And I was like her. Sort of… I wasn't infallible, but I had a nice margin of success. And the cards had predicted I would run into trouble today. Maybe not the kind of trouble I thought, but replacing four tires was surely a problem. Especially when money was an issue… thank God I tutored a second-year boy whose father owned a body shop. I would trade again my Math skills against used tires.

The best part of that deal was that I could keep it secret. Allen and Grace didn't have to know the truth about how hard it still was for me at school. It was better that way. Knowing the truth would just make them worry more… and possibly get them and the girls into trouble. And I swore it would never happen again.

The memory of a tall, handsome, dark-haired boy came unsolicited into my mind, and I immediately sent it back to the remotest corner of my mind, where it belonged. No matter how much I tried not to think of him, to forget, he was always there in my head to remind me how much naïve I was two years earlier.

"Liz? You ok?"

I smiled. Mick knew the whole story, of course, but I didn't want to tell him how much Gabriel was still affecting me, even if he didn't show up again around here. It was my problem, not his.

"Sure. Can you give me a ride home?"

Mick smiled, and I smiled as well. Mick could be damn perceptive at times… thank God it wasn't one of those moments.

**Bella**

After school, I made certain Esme didn't need me for something and then I said I would go out 'for a walk'. Jasper was the only one to realize the truth behind my innocent little sentence. He had heard it so many times throughout the years. I never went out for just a walk. I always went ghost hunting. And that would be the first time in years I would go out alone, enough to make Jasper worry about me.

"Maybe I should come with you," he whispered while I was changing clothes in my room.

"Nonsense, honey," I replied with a smile. "I can do it on my own. Yesterday I was with Edward, I couldn't do much… today I want to see if someone wants my help."

"Listen to you. You would make an excellent doctor."

It wasn't the first time Jasper suggested me to give med school a try. Who knew, maybe one day…

"Thank God I have eternity, then. I want to do so many things in my life."

I changed my skirt and shirt for jeans and a sweater. I tied up my hair in a ponytail and grabbed my purse. I took my husband's face with both my hands and kissed him softly on the lips.

"I'll come home soon. Promise."

Halfway down the stairs, I heard Edward playing, and decided to pay a visit before going to the cemetery again.

"Having fun?"

Edward gave me a smile. "Bella! Come here."

I gave a look to the music sheets in front of him, written in his perfect, old-fashioned handwriting.

"Are you working on something new?"

"It's not mine, actually. It's… hers," he added with an eloquent look.

"_Elizabeth's_? How in the hell did you get your hands on that notebook?"

"It wasn't intentional… we met again in the music hall, we fought some more, and I accidentally read her music. She left the notebook open on a chair. I couldn't think of anything else for the rest of the day."

"So beautiful?"

"So full of imperfections."

"I hope you're planning to keep this improved version only for us, because Elizabeth would tear your head off if she suspected this. I have this feeling."

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere. I'm going out for a walk."

"Last time you said this we ended up at the cemetery."

"Cause you wanted to go there. Strange as it sounds, I have other interests in life!"

Edward didn't believe a word I said, I could tell. Anyway, I left him playing with Elizabeth's music and I headed to the cemetery. Once there, I walked through the tombs till I was sure no one was paying attention to me. I ended up in front of Elizabeth and Anthony Masen's tombs. Like the day before, I stopped and said a prayer for Edward's parents. I wished I could do the same with my mother, but I wasn't so stupid to think I could go back to Forks again and live to tell the tale. Charlie wouldn't even need to justify himself if he wanted to try to kill me again. Or Josh. Or anyone of the other werewolves…

I was going to go back to the most recent graves, when I saw Elizabeth. She had just put some fresh flowers in front of two tombs. She saw me as well, but for once she didn't incinerate me with a look. She looked… well, she looked like me when I was alive, before the Cullens. The same quiet desperation, plus the knowledge you can't count on no one but yourself. Even if I knew there was a chance she might try to kill me, I walked and got closer to her.

"Hi," I said. Elizabeth replied with a nod of her head.

"Who do you have here?"

No one, just a bunch of ghosts that I hoped to help walking into the white light. But I couldn't tell her that, could I?

"My mother," I lied. "She died at childbirth."

"Oh. Sorry. I… I couldn't imagine."

"And you?"

Elizabeth gave me a curious look, raising both her eyebrows. "You don't know? Really?"

"Since I'm asking… My family and I lived in Canada till a week ago. And we don't like gossip."

"Canada is nice. I… spent a summer there. Anyway, I'm here for my parents. They died two years ago in a car accident."

"I'm sorry. It must be hard for you."

"Like my Grandma says, 'what doesn't kill, strengthens'," replied Elizabeth.

"Tell me about it," I said, thinking of my time in La Push. Elizabeth chuckled.

"Sorry, what could you possibly know of this?"

"I didn't always live with the Cullens," I replied with a cold tone. "I grew up with a father and a brother that hated me probably every single second of my life. I ran away from home, and what can I say? I got lucky and found Carlisle and Esme. And my brothers and sister."

Elizabeth stayed silent. I could feel her evaluating me.

"Your story must be an interesting one as well," she simply stated. "Listen… I'm sorry for what happened at school. People don't want to be friends with me, not in that place. Mark and his friends make sure to tell everyone I'm an outcast. I simply don't trust people that go against this scheme."

Again, another thing we had in common.

"I don't care what people say. I trust my instinct. So… let's do this right," I said, outstretching my hand, "Isabella Marie Cullen. Nice to meet you. At last."

Elizabeth lowered her eyes for a second, with an amused smile on her face. Then she took my hand and shook it.

"Elizabeth Irene St. John," she replied. "Nice to meet you, too. But everyone calls you Bella, right?"

"Yes. And no one calls you Lizzie but Mick, right?"

"Not if you want to live."

I laughed. Then I gave a look to the spirits in the graveyard, and sighed. For some reason, Elizabeth decided she could trust me, and I really missed having a human friend in my life. I promised myself I would go back there that night, and I took a walk with my new friend. She wasn't a big talker, but that was fine because I wasn't either. She wanted to know about Canada, how I got adopted by the Cullens. She found it weird that Esme and Carlisle had adopted teenagers, when young couples usually went for babies and toddlers.

"They're… special. I realized it the moment I stepped into their house. I felt at home for the first time in my life."

"My adoptive parents are nice. I got lucky…" she said, then she took a camera from her bag and took a couple pictures of a girl at the bus stop at the other side of the street. "All things considered."

"You do that a lot. Taking pictures of random people, I mean."

"If something catches my eye, it deserves a picture. Or more than one..."

She blushed while saying that. Before I could ask, she dragged me in an alley without warning.

"What the hell…?"

"Sorry! I just didn't want to… well, to meet them," she said, indicating the boys that tried to harass her in the parking and the girls I saw in the mess hall, plus the one that was taken away by the agents.

"I was right, wasn't I? You did it."

"Mark offended my parents' memory and talked ill of my foster family. I'm not the only one that didn't like his words about foster families. And believe me, smoking pot is the lesser thing Mark has done at parties."

"Some parties they must have been."

"The other thing I'm not going to miss. Oh, look at that. You better be careful, Bella… now that Mark's paired with the spawn of Satan, it's better to not make them angry…"

"The spawn of Satan?"

"FYI," said Elizabeth, indicating all the popular kids from our hiding place, "The first from left is Mark Gallmann, son of the mayor. Georgina Price, daughter of one of the richest lawyer in town, spawn of Satan and his girlfriend. Blake Eccleston, Nate Tyler, Kyle Jones, Danielle Smith. M and G's cohorts. Enough said."

"Thanks for the explanation," I said. "At least now I know who the school's mandatory neurotic bitch is and I'll stay away from her."

"What? Don't be mistaken, Bella... That title belongs to me."

We looked at each other, and burst out laughing a second after.

It was official. I liked Elizabeth.

* * *


	5. Legacy

**Edward**

Two weeks had passed, and I still couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Elizabeth and Bella walking and laughing together in the school corridors. Whatever warmed up the Ice Queen to my little sister, though, didn't work for the rest of us. Emmett didn't care, and Jasper was confident in his wife's common sense. Only Rosalie and I weren't happy about that friendship. Rosalie was jealous and angry because there was a risk that an 'intruder' would once again discover the family secret (and I knew she was referring to 'my' Bella, not the one she had welcomed with open arms in the family and in her heart). Maybe my judgment was clouded by the inner dislike I felt for her, but I couldn't imagine a more unlikely friend for Bella. They were too different in my eyes.

Mick and Elizabeth's table became ours as well. It was the only good thing to have come out of that situation… Thanks to them, we had become virtually invisible. I wished I was virtually invisible to Elizabeth as well, but she seemed to enjoy provoking me every occasion she had. I never met a more litigious creature in my life! And reading her mind wasn't a great advantage with her, because Elizabeth always spoke her mind, one way or another. Mick, on the other hand, was convinced that before the school year was over, Elizabeth would kill me or fall for me. Absurd!

His thoughts showed a deep affection and loyalty for that girl. I wondered why. Maybe Elizabeth hadn't been always like that. Or maybe there was a gentler, less sarcastic side in her that she kept hidden, only for Mick and Bella to see…

My reflections were interrupted by Mick's laugh. Elizabeth, being her usual sweet self, kicked him hard under the table and told him to shut up.

"No I won't. Ouch. That hurt!"

"Serves you right. So, Bella? What is your answer?"

Bella was at loss for words. "I don't know, really. I've never done things like that."

"You know everything about ghosts and supernatural things… and you never had someone read tarots for you?"

"Let's say I had my fair share of bad luck in the past. I'd like to think it's over…"

Emmett pretended to choke on his soda to mask his laugh.

"Come on. I'm good."

Bella shrugged, and she eventually said yes. Rosalie sighed, unhappy.

Elizabeth took out from her schoolbag an old, battered deck of cards, and she started to dispose them in the empty space between her and Bella.

"From where do you want me to start? Usually you go from the past to the future…"

Bella took a deep breath. "Future."

Elizabeth turned a couple of cards. Now we were all staring at her.

"Nice. Don't worry, the bad luck is over… at least in the present and immediate future. Really good cards, Bella, under every aspect... Do you have a boyfriend you never told me about?"

Bella gave a look at Jasper. She was wondering if she could tell Elizabeth the truth. After he smiled and quietly nodded to her, Bella raised her hand and pointed at him. Elizabeth looked at him as well.

"Well, that explains lots of things… you two make a good couple, by the way. Ok, past. You ready?"

"Have fun."

Elizabeth smiled, but her smile soon vanished. She was whispering the names of the cards to herself but, judging by what I was hearing in her mind, they weren't good cards. And then she turned the last card… She kept looking from the card to Bella, and the other way around.

"What the hell happened to you before being adopted?" she asked her. The surprised, almost scared tone in her voice alarmed us all.

"I… told you about my biological family. We never add up."

"The understatement of the century, I'll say."

She put the card down. The Death.

"You're probably the first person I read the cards to that has this card on her past instead on her future. It's… uncanny."

"I almost died after I turned… sixteen. Got attacked by some wolves. Does it count?"

Bella was frightened. We all were. Elizabeth could have picked that card by chance… but what if she didn't? Alice's face flashed in my mind for a second. What if she…?

"Bella, sorry… I didn't mean to scare or upset you with this…"

"No, it's ok. I put it behind me."

Elizabeth gave her a piercing look, trying to decide if she was telling the truth or not, and then she decided to change topic. She asked Bella about her silver necklace, and Bella told her how it was a gift from his childhood friend Dave, from the period when she lived in the La Push reservation. In return, Elizabeth showed her the bracelet with the carved decorations she always wore, and said it was her great grandmother's.

"She was a Kalderash storyteller. She wrote down all the legends of the tribe. My favorites are the ones about the vampires."

"Bad vampires that the tribe punished with magic curses?" said Bella, asking the question we all had in mind.

"No, actually… to my tribe, or at least to my family, vampires are good."

We all watched her with perplexed look that she interpreted as incredulity towards the well-established cliché of the bad, blood-sucking vampire that lived in coffins and was afraid of crosses and garlic. She revealed herself to know many true things on the subject, like our supernatural speed, how we sparkled 

like diamonds under the sun, or how the color of the eyes changed when we needed to feed. Again, we felt menaced. She knew too much. Right now she thought of these things just like simple legends… but we knew we had to pay extra attention from that moment on.

**Bella**

I knew Elizabeth was deeply fascinated by the legends of her mother's gypsy tribe, but I had no idea she knew that much about vampires! Thank God she thought everything was just myth, or we would have a serious problem in our hands. Not to mention that Rosalie would tell me the biggest 'Told you so!' an immortal being had ever said to another immortal being because I let her into my life and the life of my family…

While I was still examining her bracelet, her eyes fell on mine. It was a gift Esme and Carlisle had given me for my twentieth birthday, my first as a vampire. It was composed by two thin, rigid circles of gold entwined together with an oval stone in the middle. A stone with the Cullen family crest on it. Everyone had their own: Rosalie had a penchant, the boys a wristband, Carlisle and Esme two rings – their wedding rings.

"It's… very nice," said Elizabeth. "the hand, the lion, the shamrocks… justice, dauntless courage, perpetuity. The chevron means protection… as in protection given to another being."

"Exactly," I said, "It's our family crest. We all wear it." I was really surprised. It didn't happen often that someone could tell me exactly what every symbol on my family crest meant. But that wasn't the only surprise. Elizabeth was paler that me in that moment. She kept looking at me and the bracelet, like she'd never seen me before. I gave a look at Edward, but it was like he couldn't hear her thoughts… and my God, her heart was beating so fast… she was scared of me. Why?

Elizabeth got on her feet and ran away, saying that she had forgotten to do something that day. Mick tried to go after her, but she was faster than him. He just went back to our table and gave us an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry… I really don't know what happened to her."

And neither did we.

**Elizabeth**

Oh God. Oh my God. My heart was going to jump out of my chest. I made up an excuse to leave the school while I was running out of the mess hall. I couldn't stay there any longer, not after I…

I started breathing again once I was in my car. In my head, like a broken record, there was my grandma's voice, telling me the vampire legends that were part of the Kalderash heritage… and the ones that concerned my family. She had used them to teach me Romanian, I knew them only in that language.

I hit the accelerator, and I drove faster than I could to my grandmother's retirement home. She was the only one that could tell me if I was getting mad or not. In that moment, madness sounded like the best option to me. Because, if I discovered I wasn't mad, that would mean…

Oh God. I hoped to convince some nurse there to give me some Valium. I was this close to falling dead on the floor, my heart didn't want to stop racing…

For the first time in my life, I ignored the polite greeting of Ms. Norwich, the head of the retirement house, and ran directly to the garden, where my grandmother was looking after her roses. When she decided to go 

there because she didn't want her increasing health problems to interfere with our lives, my father gave to that place enough money to grant her a roof for at least thirty years. That money was also my grandmother's assurance she could do whatever she pleased in that place. Hence, the roses, a piano in the tea room, and a million of little things she had studied over the years to make Ms. Norwich miserable, even if I knew she had grown to like her in the end.

"Grandma? Grandma Helena? Are you there?" I said, looking frantically for her in every direction.

"For God's sake, Elizabeth!" she said, emerging from behind a bush of roses with both her hands on her hips. "Are you planning to give me a heart attack, young lady?"

I literally ran in her arm, hugging her tightly. Grandma immediately realized something was wrong, something big. She stopped looking after her flowers, and she took me in her rooms, making me sit on her sofa and offering me a cup of fresh made tea. I took a couple sips from the teacup she had put in front of me, and I finally started to calm down some.

"And now would you please tell me what are you doing here? You should be at school! And do Grace and Allen know of this getaway of yours?"

"No, they don't. I didn't plan this… I need to talk to you, you're the only one that can tell me if I've lost it or…"

"Just tell me, sweetheart. What's wrong?"

"The ring, Grandma. I need to see your ring. The one you inherited from... well, from Magdalena."

Grandma gave me a piercing look. "Why are you so interested in that ring, my child?"

I sighed, exhausted. "Just show me, please. Explanations later. I really have to see it."

She got up, and after a few minutes she emerged from her bedroom with her jewelry box. She opened it in front of me, and she immediately took out a silver ring that she immediately gave to me.

Oh God, I thought, while my heart skipped a beat. I wasn't seeing things. The lion, the hand, the shamrocks, the chevron. It was the Cullen family crest. And I was holding it in my hand.

"Tell me again, Grandma… tell me again the story of this ring."

Grandma Helena decided not to ask other questions, and like when I was a kid, she started telling me the story I loved the most, the one centered on our ancestor, Magdalena. When she was around my age, she traveled across Europe with her family and her tribe. Many men asked her in marriage, but her father wanted to concede his only daughter to the richest man he could find. One night, one man whose offer Magda's father had rejected went to their camp and kidnapped the girl. Before that man with blood red eyes could harm her, a blonde-haired man came to her rescue. The beautiful golden-eyed stranger killed her aggressor, healed her wounds and took her back to her people.

"He was not from the country where Magda and her people lived in that moment. He didn't seem to belong anywhere. Out of gratitude for having saved his daughter, Magda's father, along with the other member of the tribe council, allowed him to live with them for as long as he wanted. But when the tribe trespassed the mountains and had to choose the direction to take next, the golden-eyed man chose to leave. His condition of immortal, benevolent creature was no mystery for our family anymore… but he 

wanted to find other creature like him, other creatures that chose not to kill humans to live. The ring, that Magdalena's father made for him, is the symbol of the friendship between him and our family. Like we welcomed him in time of need, so he'll do it… if our paths would cross again."

"Thanks."

"Elizabeth… now I want an explanation."

"I saw five crests like this one. On five schoolmates with skin white as chalk and cold as ice… all 'adopted', but with the same exact golden shade in their eyes. One of them is my best friend! Grandma… the golden-eyed creature you talked about… is a vampire?"

"You never believed those stories to be true, did you?"

"How could I? Vampires, werewolves, demons… hunters… you're really telling me all these creatures really exist?"

"I never saw them with my eyes, but I always believed in their existence. And... You saw the crests yourself, right? But to be sure beyond the reasonable doubt, you have to discover if the one that saved Magdalena is part of that family. He should look in his mid-twenties… blond, thin, short hair…"

"Curly hair?" I said, thinking immediately of Jasper. Grandma shook her head, and rose again to take something from a drawer.

"Look for him. You find this man, you'll find your answers," she said, giving me a small portrait made on a small sheet of old paper. It wasn't much but it was a start. And if I was right, I was looking at a portrait of no one else than Dr. Carlisle Cullen, Bella's adoptive father… and adoptive member of my gypsy family.

Could my life become any crazier? I hoped not. On the way to the hospital where Bella had told me his father worked, I couldn't stop thinking of how everything made sense now… not only the Cullens absences during the sunny days (they all had more than believable excuses for skipping school, anyway), but also… well, it wasn't important anymore. Gabriel was out of my life, this time for good. He was still looking for me in Canada, as far as I knew… I hoped I wasn't wrong. I realized too late how dangerous he was. And now that the legends had become reality, that just made him more dangerous… Oh, come on. It had been more than a year now. If he was back in town, I would be the first to know. And he wasn't, because there wasn't any proof that I had ever come back to Chicago. God bless Mick for that.

I looked at the ring that was now shining at my finger. Enough with Gabriel, I had more important things to think about. Like Dr. Carlisle Cullen, who was now going out of the hospital after the end of his shift… a very long night shift judging by the time, but since vampires didn't sleep, time was of no importance to them, right?

"Doctor Cullen?" I said, approaching him. God, the portrait didn't do him justice. He was inhumanly beautiful. I reminded myself to breathe.

"Yes… how may I help you, young lady?" he asked me with a kind smile. I took a very deep breath, and I showed him the ring on my hand. His smile slowly faltered; his eyes moved from me to the ring like I did earlier with Bella… did that really happen just a couple of hours before?

"My name is Elizabeth St. John. My grandmother is a descendant of a Kalderash girl named Magdalena, and gave me this ring after I told her that five of my schoolmates, your adopted children, wear it as their family crest. I know the story behind its creation, the true story, and I think you know as well of what I'm talking about. And now, please, I beg you… say something."


	6. Truth

**Carlisle**

That silver ring. I never thought I would ever see it again.

I remembered the day I met that Kalderash girl, Magdalena, like it had happened the day before. She swore to me her family would never forget me, and it seemed like she had been right… And those green eyes were another proof that that girl, Elizabeth, was a real descendant of Magdalena. They were the same exact shade as hers. Incredible…

Elizabeth was clearly waiting for me to talk. She was holding her breath in anticipation of my words.

"I don't think we're in the right place to talk about something so important, Elizabeth."

"What do you suggest then?"

"If I assume correctly, you've never been to my family's house."

Everyone was at school in that moment except Esme, and I knew she was deadly curious to meet Elizabeth, the girl that Bella liked so much and Edward hated with the same intensity. I had recognized the surname as soon as she had said it.

"And risk meeting Edward? I see him at school, that's more than enough for me!"

I couldn't help myself, and I started laughing. Edward had more or less the same reaction when Bella asked us if she could invite Elizabeth to come to our house. We walked to my car and we got in. Elizabeth was looking at me with a curious expression, certainly due to my reaction, and then she smiled.

"Uhm. Let me guess. A certain red-haired boy reciprocates what I feel for him."

"Quite literally. But I'm confident you and Edward will get along just fine once you get to know each other."

"That's what Bella says, too. I would go insane overnight if I were to do a thing like that, but I could make an effort out of respect for you. Oh God, I can't believe it… you're all _vampires_! And not normal vampires… vampires with ties to my family! It's worse than a fantasy novel."

I laughed again. Edward had described her as sarcastic, unpleasant and rude. Usually I trusted his judgment, but this time I feared he was wrong. Like Bella, I found that girl fascinating, and not only because of her family. She survived the loss of her parents, of the world she had always known, and she was still there, fighting. This trait of hers reminded me of Rosalie, somehow, and that was probably another reason why Rosalie couldn't stand her. They were too similar.

Fifteen minutes after, we were already at my house. Like I suspected, Esme was more than happy to finally meet Elizabeth. She was always partial to the girls able to provoke a reaction in Edward's heart and mind, even if this time such reaction was the opposite of what he had felt when he met Bella.

"I'm really glad to meet you at last, Elizabeth. I've heard many things about you."

**Elizabeth**

"I can imagine what you could have possibly heard about me… and from whom."

Esme laughed, and said she was waiting to know me better before deciding which of her children was right about me. Her eyes lit up with pride when she mentioned Bella and the others, like a real mom. I decided I liked her in that instant.

"May I offer you something? I have some tea and cookies in the kitchen…"

"I'm fine, really…" I said, trying to stop her, but Esme disappeared in the kitchen and I found myself speaking at the void. Carlisle put a hand on my shoulder and invited me to sit on the couch. I sat opposite him, and I replied to his questions about my family. How did we end up in the United States? Did I know what happened to Magdalena? How many people knew about that legend, and believed it was true?

Esme joined us with my cup of tea and a giant plate of chocolate chip cookies when I was still answering the first question. Carlisle listened in silence, nodding to my words once in a while, while I told him about my family getaway from Central Europe to the United States during World War 2. Magdalena's story was interesting as well. She became a healer, and resisted all attempts of his father to marry her with some rich gypsy man until she was sure he wanted her and not her father's gold. She ran away after discovering the man was not who she thought he was, and ended up in Paris, where she became a dancer. She became the lover of a young poet and they lived poor and hopelessly in love for the rest of their days. She had three children, and after her death, Magda's mother welcomed them in the family, even if the scorned husband and her father were contrary.

"But like her daughter, she was stubborn like a mule… or so I'm told. It's quite a dominant trait in the woman of my family."

Carlisle nodded. "I remember. Magda decided she would help me, like I helped her with the vampire that tried to kill her… and no one made her change her mind. Quite the opposite… she convinced everyone I was worthy of their trust. It was thanks to her if I found the Volturi."

"The Volturi?"

They exchanged a look. Like they were talking about something that maybe I shouldn't know. But the damage was done, so to speak. Esme invited me to take another cookie and then she replied to my question.

"They are the oldest and most powerful of us all," explained Esme. "A sort of royal family."

"Are they… I mean, are they like you? Magdalena was attacked by a vampire that wanted to drink her blood… but how is the situation now? Do all vampires drink animal blood, like you?"

"No," replied Carlisle. "We are considered… outcasts, because we made the choice of not killing human beings in order to survive. The other vampires, the majority of our kind, still feed on human blood. The Volturi are no exception."

"So… their irises are ruby red because of this, like the legends say?"

"Yes."

"But they could try and conceal that, right? With glasses or contact lenses…"

"Someone might, in order not to give away his or her true nature. Why are you asking this?"

"Curiosity. You're the first real, honest-to-God vampire I have ever talked to after all!" I said with a smile and a little laugh.

_Oh, please_, I found myself begging. _Please, believe me, Carlisle_…

That conversation made me realize many things, but one in particular: the Cullens were not the first vampires I had met. But sure as hell, they were the first with golden eyes. I shivered, realizing just now the danger I had been in. The danger I was still in. Carlisle was smiling politely at me, and I forced myself to return the gesture. They were nice people. Good people. They would help me if I asked them. But like I said… it was my problem. I caused it with my naïveté, and I would have to deal with the consequences alone.

I heard the door open, and Bella's laugh filled the air. I looked at the watch… school was just over. How long had I been sitting there talking to Esme and Carlisle? A long time, I answered myself, since the cookies were all gone, much to Esme's approval. When I tried to stop eating, she gave me a 'mom' look and told me I was too thin in her opinion.

I mentally counted back to five till the moment Edward would notice me in the living room. Four… Three… Two… One…

"_What the hell is she doing here?"_

Rosalie's angry tone didn't surprise me. God, if she was jealous of her little sister… or at least of the girl she pretended she was her sister. Bella, on the other hand, was more than happy to see me. Maybe a little surprised to see me having tea and cookies with her adoptive parents, but definitely happy. Emmett was smiling, amused by the situation. Jasper had his usual seraphic expression on his angel face, like he knew something that us mere humans (or vampires) would never understand. And Edward… well, like his sister, he wasn't happy to see me there either. Carlisle smiled, ready to explain my presence there, but I stopped him.

"No, Carlisle… not now."

I touched his hand like I was talking to a friend, and I knew that gesture would annoy Rose and Edward. Bella gave me a curious look, but she knew me well enough to realize I was having fun at her brothers' expense and that she would be the first to know what had just happened in that room before their arrival, if Carlisle didn't talk.

I gathered my things. "If you wanna tell them, go ahead. Just wait till I'm far enough not to be affected by the fallout, ok?"

Carlisle smiled and hugged me. I bit my lip trying not to laugh, and I started again to think of my Romanian childhood fairytales. With a mind reader in the room, better be careful. His expression was serious but his eyes shined with my same unexpressed laughter. Esme, always adorable and in control, escorted me to the door (walking right in the middle of her astonished children) and invited me to stop by again, that she was happy to have finally met me, and things like that. I got inside my car and drove until I was sure their vampires ears couldn't hear me anymore, then I stopped the car at the side of the road and laughed so hard tears came out from my eyes. The morning after, Bella would have to give me the minute-by-minute description of what was happening in that moment at the Cullens'...

**Edward**

"She's WHAT?"

Rosalie couldn't believe what Carlisle had just said, and, honestly, neither could I. Bella, who was sitting next to me on the couch, was thinking ecstatically that she had always known there was something special about Elizabeth. She rolled her eyes at her sister's words.

"Come on, Rose… she knew the crest in every detail. How many times does a thing like this happen?"

"But it doesn't mean a thing. She's human, an intruder. I don't want her here."

Bella lowered her eyes. She was trying to hide it, but Rosalie's words hurt her. She perfectly knew she wasn't referring to her but to her mother, but it didn't hurt less because of that.

"Elizabeth's family helped me in a moment when no one in their right mind would give me shelter. I might not have survived without their help. As far as I'm concerned, Elizabeth can come here to see Bella any time she wants."

Bella barely kept herself from exulting.

"But I'm hopeful, Bella, you won't fill every blank she has on our nature, at least for now. She needs time to adjust, and so do we."

"Carlisle, I don't think she has blanks to fill. Not after what you told us. And now she knows about the gift thing, too!"

"But she doesn't know about yours."

Bella was wondering why her gift had to be taken secret. I didn't need to. Her gift was too extraordinary, too rare not to be of some interest for the Volturi. Keeping her gift (and to an extent, her own existence) secret was the best way to protect her. I didn't even want to think of what they could do to a sweet, harmless girl like Bella.

"Yet. But I have every intention of telling her. She lost her parents two years ago… and I don't think they left this place. It has been a violent death after all."

"If and when you'll meet them, we'll resume this conversation. Do you agree, Bella?"

Bella nodded, and left the room with Jasper to go in the library. Once we were alone, Rosalie spoke once again her distrust in letting Bella have Elizabeth as a friend.

"Come on, Rose," said Emmett. "Now you're going to tell me she had a pointy tail and horns, too?"

"Bella is too kind, she is not good at judging people. And she deserves better. I'm just saying that."

"Bella can decide for herself," Carlisle reminded her.

"Last time she did, you and Esme didn't see her for twenty years."

In that moment I realized that Rosalie would never forgive me completely for what I had done. Before our discussion degenerated into a fight, Carlisle said that our meeting was over and that we were free to go.

**Elizabeth**

As soon as I was home, Grace dressed me down for 20 minutes because she had received a phone call from… my grandmother. Apparently, not even the discovery of being somehow related to a vampire family wasn't enough of a reason to skip school. I sighed deeply and reminded myself of the reasons why I adored that woman, so I wouldn't have to kill her the following Saturday. I pretended to be sorry and walked head down to my room. Once I was sure no one would come looking for me till dinnertime, I got out of my window with my camera and climbed down the tree. Ms. Wilkins, the neighbor, gave me a distracted look and went back reading her novel. I guessed she was used to me sneaking out of the house that way by now. Usually I tried to respect Grace's rules, but this time I felt I didn't earn the punishment… so to hell with it. I had better things to do, and Mick was waiting for me in the only property the authorities didn't take away from my family. It was a little studio downtown that my mother used when she was busy at the college. For some reason, it completely went unnoticed during the listing of the family properties that had to be taken and auctioned.

Since I was afraid someone would take that place away from me if I tried to change the name on the contract or things like that, I simply kept my mouth shut and used it in secret. My mother and I looked pretty much the same, so no one noticed the difference: a black haired woman used that place before, and a black haired woman used it in that moment. Just for a different goal: it was the place where I developed my photos and where I kept all the printed copies, more than enough to cover all the walls up to the ceiling and then some. My secret sanctuary. Well, not so secret since Mick knew of its existence, but no one else knew beside him. And Mick was already waiting for me inside, with coffee and cake and homework to do.

"Are you going to tell me why you got mad all of the sudden today?"

"All of the sudden?"

"Haha. So?"

"You always say my Grandma has lost it, with her stories on good and bad vampires..."

"And?"

I sighed. No, I couldn't ask him that. I couldn't. "Forget my last sentence. You wouldn't believe me in a million years."

"Try me."

_No I won't_, I thought.

"Really, Mick… it's completely crazy. Unbelievable. I still have problems believing it myself."

Mick thought about it for a few seconds, then he put together my words and what I had said about Grandma.

"Again?" he said, laughing. "Come on, Lizzie… vampires doesn't exist."

I could tell him the names of the vampires I knew. Mick would never tell a soul, he could be trusted. Instead I went for the name that I knew would catch his attention.

"Gabriel is a vampire. Don't ask how I know this… but it's the truth."

He stopped laughing immediately. "Elizabeth, have you seen him again? Is he back in town?"

"No, thank God. But all the strange things about him now make sense… his cold hands, the strange color of his eyes, his appearing out of nowhere… his strength."

Especially his strength. I gently clutched my left wrist with my hand. Gabriel managed to break it with the same gesture. He couldn't believe how fragile I was to him… and he loved this power he had over me. I knew he did.

"Liz, come on…"

"It makes sense," I repeated. "Only a predator could hunt someone in that way."

And it scared me to think how many times I had gotten close to being changed, since the night I had met him. I was still in a care home, waiting for a foster family to take me… and I hated it. It was then when I mastered the art of sneaking out at night. I wandered in the streets with my camera, taking pictures and wondering what the hell did I have to do with the rest of my life, or if there was a life for me after all that had happened. Then one night I raised my eyes from the camera, and I inadvertently caught a couple passionately making out in an alley. I knew I shouldn't have watched, but the boy was so handsome… when he met my eyes, I ran away. Then I met him again the following night. And the following. And we kept on meeting like that, at night, keeping it a secret from everyone. He was smart, handsome, caring… It was like someone had sent me an angel to give me hope. Yeah, right… Mick hated Gabriel since I first told my friend about him, I should have realized. Gabriel was very jealous of my friendship with him, too. No… He was very jealous, period. And when he realized he couldn't oblige me into complete submission, I started to show around on my face and body the signs of his anger.

The fact that I was living with other twelve teenagers that couldn't stand me, 'the little spoiled princess', somehow helped. I blamed them for the black eye, the bruises on my body… the broken wrist and ribs. Luckily enough, a social worker took pity in me and sent me to Grace and Allen's. I thought it was over… I was wrong. He found me again. Somewhere in his twisted mind, he was even happy for me to have found a safer place to live... He didn't like my previous accommodation. Gabriel didn't break any other bones, but the bruises were becoming too difficult to conceal. And I was going through too much… so I made the mistake of telling Grace, Allen and Mick what was happening. Like Gabriel needed a reason to get more jealous and angry at me. My freedom to move was revoked till further notice, but I didn't care, not in that case.

The black roses started to appear everywhere in that period. Lots of expensive, beautiful black roses I trashed every time I saw them. I found them at school, on the windshield of my car, in the house. I resisted as long as I could. When I found my room completely filled with roses, I packed a bag and ran North, leaving a note in Romanian that just my Grandma would understand. As far as I knew, Allen and Grace still ignored what I had done from the end of the school in June till my return, in October. Not even Mick knew the whole story, and it was better that way. I got what I wanted after all: Gabriel followed me to Canada… and was still looking for me there.

The family was safe now, Mick was safe… and so was I. Or at least it was what I thought. I just hoped I would have time to finish school and disappear again before his return. Because he would return, I was certain of it, now more than ever. I would turn eighteen in a couple of months, and I couldn't wait for that day. It was my assurance that from that moment on I could do whatever I pleased. Like disappearing out of thin air because a sadistic vampire got obsessed with me and wanted to hunt me down and probably kill 

me. I was sure I could find a way to access my trust fund before my 21st birthday… I escaped a supernatural hunter for three months, it couldn't be more difficult than that.

Mick didn't want to believe me, but he knew from my voice that I was dead serious. I wasn't joking.

"So, you're basically telling me that… it's crazy, Liz."

"I have proof," I said. That conversation with Carlisle had been enlightening. The killing spree in Seattle ten years before, the one in Mexico city, plus the rising number of homicides in London in those days… all because of vampires. Red-eyed vampires, newborn or older, but still vampires.

"How do you know this?"

Before I could make up a lie, Mick realized the truth.

"You met others like him."

Told you. He could be damn perceptive at times.

"Not like him. They are the complete opposite of Gabriel. They don't hunt humans. They're… nice, good people," I said, thinking of Esme, Carlisle and Bella. "And you know them too."

"Definitely not."

"Sorry… but you do. The Cullens, Mick. The Cullens and the Hales… they're all vegetarian vampires. And I'm sort of tied to their family because of this ring."

Too much information. I felt sorry for him.

"You mean… Bella is a vampire? And Edward, too?"

I nodded. "Edward is 145 years old. Bella is…"

"What? Two hundred? _More_?"

"Bella is 38."

"Oh. Young. And you know this because…?"

"Because Carlisle, their father, told me. I showed him this ring…" and I let Mick take a good look at the crest on it, "And he recognized it. He was wearing its twin! God…" I said then, abandoning my head against the couch, "My head is spinning again."

"_Yours_ is spinning? What about _mine_, huh? I've just discovered you're related to a coven of vampires!"

We both decided it wasn't good for us to keep talking about that. We switched to my latest photographs, the one I had taken the week before the Cullens' arrival in town and the ones I had taken of Bella and Edward. Needless to say, Mick went straight for the latter.

"I wonder what it's like," he said, looking at a photo of a laughing Bella. "I mean… she looks seventeen at best. But she's almost forty. Do you think she still has family around here?"

"I know about a father and a brother in a Quileute reservation, but she doesn't like to talk about them. They hurt her badly before she became… a Cullen."

"Look at her skin. Is it… glowing?"

"The light and the camera give this effect. Under direct sunlight, vampires sparkle."

"And now I know why they're never around during sunny days. Coffins? Garlic? Crosses? Are these things true or is your Grandma right once again?"

"Will you never learn? Grandma Helena is _always_ right. And the myths are completely wrong."

"Stakes?"

"Too strong to be affected. Only fire and decapitation are effective if you want to kill a vampire."

"Good to know. I want to be ready."

"Ready for…?"

I stopped mid-sentence. I already knew where he was going with that.

"No way in hell! You did too much last time, and now I know you could even get killed! No! It's my problem, I'll deal with it alone! No one has to get hurt for me again!"

"Elizabeth, for God's sake, stop talking like that! I helped you against your will once and I'll do it again. Deal with it. Someone has to stay by your side."

Did I have other arguments to win the discussion? No. Unfortunately, no. If Mick had already decided to stay, he would stay no matter what. Damn stubborn that he was.

We resumed looking at my pictures, plus the one I had to check for the school journal, but I wasn't feeling right. Talking about Gabriel upset me. I took a nice box of photographs with me when I got home, so that I had something to do if insomnia struck again. I climbed the tree, and I went back into my room just seconds before Grace came knocking at my door, the signal that my punishment was over. I kicked the box under my bed and I came down to dinner with my adoptive family. Talk about a well-oiled machine. Grace was a simple woman that loved normality… you know, routine and discipline. I was raised by a Kalderash woman and a man born to two Hippies. Normality and rules would never suit me.

The morning after, I immediately went looking for Bella. I wanted to know everything about Edward and Rosalie's reactions! Before I could do it, though, I met Mick, with a panicked expression in his eyes.

"Lizzie, please, trust me. Don't go to your locker."

"Mick, what happened? Did someone read a thesaurus, discover one of the many synonyms of the word 'slut' and felt the burning desire to tell me… again?"

And I was laughing. Me. The one that usually took down names and planned revenge before removing the paint. Bella was definitely having an influence on me... But Mick wasn't laughing. No one was. They were looking at me with a strange look…

Before Mick could stop me, I pushed him away and went to my locker.

At its feet, there was a huge bouquet of beautiful black roses.


	7. Lies

**Bella**

I was really excited to see Elizabeth that day. I was the only one in the family, but still. Edward was sighing, already fearing Elizabeth's sarcastic remarks about what happened the day before. Rose was pouting, still angry at me because I didn't want to consider her point of view. Jasper was curious about Elizabeth, just as intrigued by her spirit as I was. Emmett… well, he made Rose angry by saying aloud what he thought about Lizzie's aspect. Not the smartest move if you were married to a woman like Rosalie Hale. I was sorry for my sister, but you would have to be blind not to look at her and define her as beautiful. She had a sort of hidden fire in her… she loved to say it was the Gypsy blood in her veins.

In the little time I had known Elizabeth, I started to think that nothing could scare her. She looked so strong… but the girl in front of my eyes didn't look strong. She looked terrified. She was shaking like a leaf, and she couldn't detach her eyes from the little mountain of roses on the floor. Black roses. Before I could ask, before I could move – and that was saying something – Elizabeth turned on her heels and ran away fast like the wind. Mick didn't even try to stop her. Like her, he was gazing at the flowers with fear and rage in his eyes. And then he looked at us with a serious look. No trace of friendliness. I realized with a shiver that he knew about us. Elizabeth told him. Did I misjudge her after all?

Mick's eyes fixed on me. I felt Jasper coming closer and put one hand on my shoulder, but this didn't make him stop.

"Do you know who Gabriel is?"

"I heard this name a couple of times," I said. Then I looked straight at Jasper, "She mentions him like… like I mentioned Charlie… or Jacob. After… Well, you know."

It was the best explanation I could think of, and it did the trick. Jasper immediately linked this with the terror he had to have felt coming from Elizabeth, and like me he realized there had to be something bigger going on. Something Elizabeth was keeping hidden and that unfortunately had caught up with her.

"Elizabeth has decided to fight, to do this… thing alone, but she can't. I won't let her. And you're gonna help me."

Rosalie snickered. "Oh really? Why should we?"

I ignored her. "Mick, do you know where she could be now?"

"I have a few ideas. But if she has decided to run we don't have much time… Bella, please. She'll listen to you. She always does."

I nodded. Rosalie clutched my arm.

"Don't go, Bella. It's none of your business."

"Enough, Rose," I said with a cold tone she probably never heard coming from me. "I will go and you can't stop me. But you can come with me."

I already know Rosalie wouldn't move for her; I would deal with my sister later. God, I was tired of her behavior.

"I'm coming with you," said Jasper.

"So am I," said Edward, much to Rosalie's and my surprise.

"I improved my tracker's skills during the years," he whispered to me. "I could help."

I nodded, and we all eclipsed before the bell rang. I didn't miss Rosalie's disappointed look, but in that moment I was the one disappointed with her. She never accepted my mother, but when I met her I was a human intruder as well. What made me so special that she didn't feel the impulse to hate me or destroy me? I knew she wasn't exactly Mother Theresa, but I also know she wasn't a bad person… I sighed. My sister was really complicated at times.

We took my car. Mick was in the passenger's seat and our closeness made him look more nervous by the second. He definitely knew. And there was no point in ignoring it, so…

"Did you have a hard time when Lizzie told you about us?" I said out of the blue with a smile.

"Bella… I like you. Really. But… can we please keep this thing on a need-to-know level? Please. I'm not the one that had been raised with scary gothic legends as bedtime stories."

"As you wish. If you change your mind…"

"I won't. Lizzie already gave me the lowdown and I really don't want to know more on that subject. Sorry."

"We understand," said Edward.

Jasper didn't talk, but I knew he approved Mick's attitude. The less words spoken, the better.

Mick was sure Elizabeth was at her studio. He told us what he thought we needed to know about Gabriel, that he was an abusive boyfriend and a stalker who had already brought her friend on the verge of a nervous breakdown not long ago.

"He… Elizabeth will kill me for this, but you have to know. He's one of your kind."

"A vampire? Oh God…"

"That explains the terror. But why did she never…?"

"Notice, Jasper? Before yesterday, she had only thought of vampires as legends! And she wasn't herself in that period. But yesterday she connected the dots… and she was terribly afraid he would come back for her. And he did."

He told us how she escaped him the first time on our way to the studio and I had to say… it was impressive. Her grandmother gave her the money, Mick helped her to go to Canada. Once there, she literally disappeared for months, except when she appeared to leave fake trails.

"Lizzie's family is really one of a kind. Both Sarah and Ian were nomads in their own way. They were always on the road, even after they had Elizabeth… Ian inherited a fortune from his grandfather, but he didn't care. He administrated it, but nothing more. He loved his job, and most of all he loved his family. He would've done the impossible to protect Sarah and Elizabeth. Hell, even Helena, and she sure was a woman who didn't need a protector! That's why it's unthinkable he could've stolen all that money…"

Mick kept on talking, but I stopped listening. The names he said… they were strangely familiar.

"Mick…" I said with a strange voice. "By any chance… are we talking about Ian St. John and Sarah Kotlyary here?"

By the look on his face, I was right. Oh God. Sarah. My former roommate at Dartmouth. And Ian, the boyfriend I never met and with whom she was planning to have a road trip across the States, during the last summer of my mortal life. Sarah and Ian were Elizabeth's parents…

"Yes. You read the newspaper?"

"No… they were both Dartmouth alumni… and so was I. Sort of."

Mick gave me a pained look and then he touched his temples, like he was having a big headache. He sighed deeply, trying to reconcile my aspect of eternal teenager with my age. It wasn't easy. Sometimes I had that problem myself when I looked at my reflection in the mirror.

A few moments after, Mick told me to stop the car near an old building, and we all went inside, running with Mick at his human speed. We waited the few seconds he needed to open the door, and then we entered the place I couldn't help but consider Elizabeth's studio as a sanctuary from the world. A place where she could hide… the place where she had stored what she needed in case of a rushed escape. My eyes flashed to the duffel bag on the table, the money, and what looked like forged documents. But Elizabeth… I couldn't see her, even if I could feel the presence in her room. Mick stepped forward and knelt in a hidden corner, behind the couch. I couldn't see much, but I heard Elizabeth moving from her crouched position to Mick's arms, and her friend stroking her hair and whispering soothing words in her ear. Her heartbeat was racing... but what hurt me the most in that moment was the little scene playing in front of me. It reminded me so much of what I had with Dave, when I was alive, and it hurt so much that it was like someone had stabbed me in the heart with a blade. It was so easy to forget sometimes that I had had a past, a life, before waking up as a vampire in Jasper's arms, all those years before. A past called Dave, Charlie and Jacob.

He never called me. Never. Once, I had been this close to jumping on a plane and going to La Push, just to see if he was alive and happy, with Julie Ateara and their child. Or children. I wondered also how things were for him in the pack. Was he in a leading position? Did my father and brother give him a hard time? I always said I didn't care about reservation gossips, but that was when I could actually choose if listened to them or not. Damn it. When the ocean was between me and them, things were easier. Now I had to remind myself the reasons why I could never go home again.

Mick managed to make Elizabeth stand up, and only then she noticed our presence in the room. She shot us a hostile glare.

"Why did you have to tell them? I told you…"

"Yeah, I know what you told me. But they're our best option, why can't you see it?"

"I don't want other people to get hurt because of me, why can't _you_ see it?"

"Lizzie," I said, taking a step forward, "We won't get hurt. We can't. You should know it."

At the moment, though, Elizabeth was too confused to think straight. A quick glance at Jasper, and he moved to her side, taking in her fear and pain. Elizabeth sat on the couch, with her head on her hands. Mick sat beside her, with his hand on her shoulders.

"Better?"

Elizabeth nodded without raising her head. Her heartbeat slowed down; she was taking slow, deep breaths. Good.

Edward was looking at the things on the table. He had her fake passport in his hand.

"This is good work. She must be very well connected," he mumbled to himself.

"She has a name, and she's right here," I heard Elizabeth say, raising her head.

"I'm just wondering how you got your hands on these. They're not the average documents teenagers usually find."

"Just because I'm not centuries old doesn't mean I don't know where to find what I need," she replied, annoyed.

"Still, Elizabeth, it doesn't seem like something _you_ should know."

Elizabeth stood up and walked to Edward. Uh-oh. I didn't know if he did it on purpose or not (but I was inclined to think the latter), but he was making her angry. Anger wasn't good, but it was a strong emotion, and at the moment it was better than nothing… or fear.

"I'm sorry. A _vampire_ is teaching me morals now? 'Cause I have some problems believing you used your real documents to enroll at school, Edward."

Edward rolled his eyes, and Jasper and I exchanged a relieved look with Mick. If Elizabeth and Edward were bitching at each other, things were back to normal. Almost_._

We let them fight (we were used to it, by now) and I started looking at the pictures on the wall. There were lots of random people that Elizabeth judged worthy to be captured by one of her pictures. Some beautiful sunrises and even more beautiful sunsets. Two adorable little girls. The girls with Elizabeth's adoptive parents. An elderly woman with sparkling green eyes, surrounded by roses. Sarah and Ian. I felt a lump in my throat looking at that picture. Sarah and I had connected almost instantly over our similar heritage. We could've been really good friends… but it wasn't meant to be, because I had to become friends with her daughter. What a strange case. Near that picture, I found mine, and many others. I was quite her favorite subject… most of the pictures showed me with Jasper. Hugs, a kiss on the forehead from my husband, lots of smiles. And then I had to put one hand on my mouth not to scream. Or laugh. Or a combination of both.

Edward. She took pictures of Edward. Lots of beautiful pictures taken, like in my case, without his knowledge. Elizabeth could go work for the CIA, if even a vampire didn't notice her hanging around with a camera…

I couldn't wrap my head around it, because it didn't add up with what she kept on telling me, or her behavior. But I also remembered her embarrassment when she had confessed me sometimes she took more than one picture of something if she considered the subject real beautiful…

I gave a look at the fighting couple, and I almost succumbed to a silent giggling fit. Edward and Elizabeth engaged in something different than fighting? Impossible. Unthinkable. The Apocalypse and Godot would come sooner, and they would take the Mad Hatter and the March Hare with them. Mick was entertaining himself watching their fight, but Jasper came to me with an amused smile. He took me in his arms, and I let his power calm me down.

"Thanks, it would be so embarrassing if they saw me…"

"What's so funny, love?"

I pointed at the pictures. Jasper gave a curious look at them, and then at Elizabeth and Edward and then back at the pictures. He was confused.

"What?"

"It's… complicated to read them, he said. "I can read their feelings well when they're separated, but when they're together… too many feelings, all mixed up. It's confusing. It gives me a headache."

"Good complicated or bad complicated?"

Jasper shrugged. Since when did my empathic husband have no idea of what was going on inside of a person?

In the meantime, Elizabeth and Edward stopped fighting. God knew how, they ended up fighting over music and their favorite composers. Edward might have been more than a century older than her, but Elizabeth was stubborn like a mule, and definitely not used to leaving the last word in a discussion to someone else. Judging from the pained expression on Edward's face, he clearly had surrendered to Elizabeth. And Elizabeth was smiling again. Good. If that was what it took to keep her mind from thinking of Gabriel, she could chew my brother for as long as she wanted.

Elizabeth looked at me, and she noticed I was near my photographs… and Edward's. Her eyes widened for a second.

"You… you saw the pictures?"

"_All_ of them. Nice work. Fascinating," I said, with a slight teasing tone. She took a deep breath, and she came closer to me. She gave a look to my favorite photo there – Jasper was hugging me from behind in the courtyard, his arms wrapped around my waist and his mouth close to my ear, whispering something that was making me smile, and both totally oblivious to the world around us – and she detached it from the wall.

"I was planning to give you this one for your birthday anyway," she said. "With a nice frame and all, but I think you have nicer and more expensive frames in your house... you can have the others as well, if you like them."

Jasper and I were so intent in looking at the pictures that we didn't notice Mick and Edward coming closer. But when I heard Edward's short intake of breath I realized he saw his pictures on the wall. Oh my.

Elizabeth gave Edward a half amused, half surprised look. "What? I take pictures of what I like… and you happen to be probably the most gorgeous boy I've ever seen. Pity that every time you open the mouth I feel the desire to kill you."

Edward's face in that moment was _priceless_. He was angry, surprised, nervous, outraged and a million of other things. And if he could have, he would have blushed. Big time.

"Don't… don't objectify me," he replied, with all the dignity he could.

Elizabeth gave him a look from head to toe and smiled, as if to say 'too late for that, sweetheart'. And she probably thought it too, judging by Edward's outraged reaction.

Keeping a straight face was _so_ difficult in that moment, but in my head I was laughing madly. And he knew it, judging by the glare he threw at me on our way out. Now that she was a little calmer and we made her – obliged her to, according to Elizabeth – accept our help, we decided to take her home. A phone call to Carlisle provided her with a good alibi that involved the ER, food poisoning and a gastric lavage, and we left her in her bedroom, with her best martyred face,

while Grace looked after her and fed her tea and crackers. We also caught a glimpse of Lily and Rachel, Elizabeth's adoptive sisters. The little one, Lily, snuggled against Elizabeth's body like a kitten and refused to leave her. Mick didn't want to leave her alone either, but we didn't have any plausible excuse to hang out there during school hours. I gave Esme a phone call, though, asking her if she could keep an eye on Elizabeth while we were at school, and being the saint that she was, Esme said yes.

We took advantage of Elizabeth's alibi as well (we were the friends that took her immediately to the ER) and we returned to school. The roses were still there, and we did our best to ignore them on our way to the mess hall. I sat at our usual table, and watched Mark and Georgina laughing with their friends… and watching at us. I couldn't understand… but when Mick joined us, I distinctly heard – and Mick as well – Georgina laugh about how she avenged her boyfriend and how funny it was to see the unbreakable Elizabeth shaking like a leaf like last time she saw those roses…

I started growling under my breath. Jasper clutched my arm and tried to calm me down, but he didn't notice Mick getting up, the picture of rage. But Emmett and Edward did. Before Mick could do something to Mark or Georgina, or both, Edward clutched his arms and took him back to the table.

"They're not worth your rage, Mick," he was whispering to his ear. "Calm down."

But that guy, Mark, _clearly_ didn't know where to stop.

"She had it coming, Gardiner. She can only blame herself."

Have you ever seen a human break free from a vampire's grasp? I sure never had. And neither had Edward or the others. But I couldn't help but feel pleased when I saw Mark Gallmann on the floor with blood pouring from his nose; but not enough to cause us distress, thank God. A teacher arrived immediately to take Mark to the infirmary, and Mick to have a nice chat with the principal, but I felt satisfied, like the one crying curled up in a corner a couple hours earlier had been me.

At that point, Rose and Emmett asked to be updated on the situation, and I told them everything about Gabriel, Elizabeth's reaction and what we had done till our return to school. Rosalie – who else? – was her usual insensitive self. She simply didn't care. Maybe Jasper and I watched reality through empathy-deformed lenses, but I could've never watched someone suffer without trying to do something about it. And if I added to the equation the stress levels caused by my night job, and those damn two shadows always at the corner of my eye that didn't want to be seen by me… well, I felt like a nuke on the verge of explosion. Thank God I was close to Jasper, that eased some of my anger and frustration and prevented me from saying things I knew I would eventually regret. But Edward knew what was inside of my head, and he took the first occasion he had to talk to me.

"Rose feels very protective towards you. Since Jasper brought you in our house in Forks, I'll say, judging from her thoughts. And Emmett's."

"I know she does. But I'm not a little girl! And I don't think there's anything left in this world to scare me. Not after that ghost in Ballycotton."

"Your concept of scary things is _very_ debatable, Bella," he sighed, almost hiding a smile. But he resumed his serious expression when he went back on topic. "Rosalie is afraid to lose you again. She's just… not used to expressing said feelings."

"You think I'm too naïve and that I'm making a mistake in letting humans in my life. But with my gift, how could I do otherwise? I need to have human friends because I can't forget how it feels like to be human. I would be pretty much useless if I let my vampire nature take over."

"Ok, this I understand. But… Elizabeth?"

His expression made me laugh. "You really don't like her, huh?"

"I'm sorry for what she has been through, but that's it. Sorry, Bella."

"Why you can be sorry for her and Rosalie can't?"

"Cause Rose is Rose. Sensitivity is not her stronger virtue."

"I suppose."

That was why I gave Edward the task of telling Rose that I couldn't go shopping with her because I wanted to stop at Elizabeth's and tell her what happened in the mess hall, since Mick had to stay in detention after school. I definitely didn't want to fight.

I knocked on the open door and entered Elizabeth's room.

"Hi… I just passed to see how you are feeling."

"Do you seriously have to ask?"

"Sorry. Well, I've got something to tell you…" and I closed the door, just in case.

"Well?"

"Well… your problem is solved. It wasn't even a problem to begin with. Just a joke… Georgina and Mark's idea of revenge."

Elizabeth silently clutched her fists, and inhaled sharply a couple of times. She was angry, and she was right to be.

"How could they know, Liz?"

"When he was stalking me, he sent roses wherever I went. They knew I would get upset. Clever. I'm so gonna kill them for this."

"I might even want to help you with them," I said, sitting on her bed. "So, how's your food poisoning going?"

Elizabeth sighed. "If Grace obliges me to drink another cup of her herbal tea, I swear I'm gonna confess everything to her."

"That bad, huh?" I said, laughing.

"Be grateful you can't taste human food and drink anymore."

"Be grateful you _can_. My human memories are a little confused, but I do remember what French Fries tasted like… I used to like them a lot."

"What now, Bella?" She asked. "With your family and I, I mean."

"Jasper and Esme like you. You're my friend. Carlisle wants to know you better. Four against three. Well, against two, Emmett didn't pick a side even if officially he's with Edward and Rosalie. Speaking of Edward…"

"I knew you would use this against me. I _so_ knew it!" she said, hiding her face in her pillow.

"If you don't want people to know, maybe you should take the pictures of your crush off the walls."

"Ok, now don't make me sound like some lovesick schoolgirl. I'm not in love with him! I just… like to watch him. I could change subject and watch Jasper and Emmett instead, but I don't think you or Rosalie would like it…"

"Hey, keep your hands off my husband!"

"Husband? Really?"

"We married just before leaving Ireland…"

"Ireland?"

I decided to tell her the true story. Or at least, I told her mine, of how I met Jasper and what happened when Edward came back. We spent hours talking, and then watching her pictures. When she invited me to meet her grandmother Saturday, I immediately accepted.

Truth was, I was really curious to meet that woman, and to hear Elizabeth play.

And both my wishes would be granted the following day.


	8. Heart

**Elizabeth**

I took a deep breath. A very deep, long breath.

"Er… Bella? What is this supposed to mean?"

I replayed the scene in my head. Bella was in my room, and she was teasing me – without reason – about the photos I had taken of her brother. Then we started talking and I invited her to come and meet my grandmother the following day… today, that was. Her. Just her. So why were all the Cullen kids, so to speak, ready to come with us?

Bella gave me an apologetic look. "Sorry… When I said I would come with you, Jasper decided to cut in. Rosalie comes because she's decided to try and make an effort to be friends with you… Emmett follows Rose…"

"And what's your reason, Edward? You can't live without me?" I added with a sweet smile.

"I'm here because _Carlisle_ asked me."

"Nice. But there's no way in hell we're all going to fit in my car."

Rose gave me a superior look. Wasn't she supposed to be nice to me that day? Then I realized it was because she had a car as well. A bright red Mercedes CLK. Maybe she wanted to make me feel inferior, but like Bella I loved battered cars with personality. I wouldn't give up my '90 Chrysler LeBaron for anything.

Everyone but Bella and Jasper left to go in Rosalie's car, and Bella muttered an apology.

"Really, sometimes I'd like to strangle her."

"I'm told it's common with sisters."

Esme and Carlisle showed up just before we left. Esme hugged me, saying she was pleased to see me. Carlisle shook my hand. I couldn't wrap my head around it yet… Every legend my grandma told me, every story, they were true. I had living proof standing in front of me.

"I hope you'll give your grandmother our love," he said. "Next time I'd like to meet her, if she agrees."

I nodded. "She'll be quite happy to hear it."

But I couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong. I had a knot in my stomach for no reason at all… and I couldn't imagine why. Gabriel wasn't there, I could breathe again. Life was back on track. So why I was still feeling scared?

Exactly the same question Jasper asked me once in my car.

"I don't know. It's like… nevermind, you'll think I'm crazy."

"Elizabeth… I can feel emotions, and Bella can talk with ghosts. We don't judge… we can't."

"Ok. Sometimes I… I can feel if something good or bad is about to happen. Like a sixth sense."

"It's not so weird," said Bella.

"It is when you wake up at night with a really bad feeling and twenty minutes later a policeman comes to your house and tells you your parents are dead."

I saw Bella and Jasper exchanging a glance.

"What?"

"It was like… like you could see the future?" asked Jasper.

"No. The only way I know to tell the future is reading the tarots. No visions… just a sixth sense. Why this question?"

"There was a member in our family," said Bella. "Her name was Alice. She was very good at seeing things before they happened."

"What happened to her?"

"She died. Almost forty years ago. She was murdered by the Volturi."

"Those guys sound like bad news."

"Can't say you're wrong…" said Bella, and I wondered what exactly she knew about those vampires. It didn't sound like she had an empirical knowledge, but more like she had met them… I wondered when and how.

My bad feeling kept on getting worse and worse. By the time we arrived at the retirement house I was certain something bad was about to happen.

And then Ms. Norvich told me my grandmother had been hospitalized early that morning. I started shivering. I caught just a few words of what that woman was saying to me… hypovolemic shock… unexplainable internal bleeding… heart failure… close to death…

I couldn't move. I couldn't talk. I was shaking so much I felt like I was convulsing. What happened next I didn't know… but I woke up in the hospital, with Carlisle hovering over me, and all the other Cullens in the room.

"Carlisle?"

He looked worried. Esme and the others looked deeply relieved to see me awake. Hell, even Rosalie.

"You scared us to death, Elizabeth."

I was going to reply, by the pain in my chest cut my breath short. Weird, I didn't remember hitting something, or falling on the ground. I gave Carlisle a puzzled look.

"What happened?"

"Your heart," the doctor simply said. Enough for me to understand. Yes, my heart defect wasn't a big deal, I could lead a normal life… but I also had to lead a quiet life. The fear of Gabriel's return and my grandmother's conditions didn't help…

"Have you ever heard of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy?" Carlisle asked me, while checking my eyes and listening to my heartbeat. I shook my head.

"It's a stress-induced pathology, triggered by an intense emotional stress… or the death of a loved one. A weakening of the myocardium. It's also called Broken Heart Syndrome."

"And it didn't help that I already had a congenital defect in that area."

"No, it didn't. Your heart stopped on our way here. We weren't able to immediately revive you. For a moment we feared…"

No need to be a mind-reader to realize how that phrase was going to end. They had feared I died before arriving to the hospital.

Edward gave me a strange look, and then he lowered his eyes.

"What, Edward? What is it?"

Esme gave a worried look to Carlisle. Bella bit her lip. Rose shifted her weight, uncomfortable. Emmett grimaced and looked at the floor. Jasper moved closer to me. I started hyperventilating again. If I was fine, there was just one person they could be so worried about. Just one.

Jasper was at my side in a quarter of second, touching my arm with his cold hand. It was like a wave of Thorazine washed over my body. I didn't feel upset… but I remembered I had to. Weird.

"Elizabeth, please, you can't get upset in your condition," said Carlisle.

"I won't get upset if you start telling me what is wrong with my grandmother!"

Since no one seemed eager to give me what I wanted, I decided I would discover the truth myself. I tore the IV from my arm and tried to get up from the bed, but Jasper, Esme and Bella prevented me from doing it. They were trying to hold me down without causing me bruises, but I was fighting too hard against their hands… it was unavoidable. Carlisle took a syringe from a tray, and injected me with a sedative. I stopped fighting immediately.

"What's wrong with her… tell me, please…" I whimpered while Esme helped me lie down again.

"When you feel stronger, my dear," she said, stroking my hair. "Now rest."

I closed my eyes and drifted into unconsciousness.

**Bella**

I watched Elizabeth lose consciousness, and I started sobbing. Jasper left her side to engulf me in a tight embrace. How? How could we tell Elizabeth her grandmother was dead?

When Carlisle explained to us Elizabeth's pathology, he also told us that it wasn't something that happened all of sudden. Elizabeth must have already suffered of that when her parents died, and never really recovered. Her heart walls were too thin, her health was seriously at risk. And then there was the part about Gabriel. Carlisle didn't talk, obviously, but Edward told me everything as soon as we had a moment alone. He told me he saw Elizabeth's chart through Carlisle's eyes and all the bruises and fractures her so-called boyfriend caused her. He was shocked, we all were. She went through hell and survived… and I would do whatever was in my power to help her. This time we all agreed on this. We stayed with her for as long as possible, then Carlisle started his shift, and we all moved to the waiting room. After a while, I got on my feet and headed on the roof to catch some fresh air and to phone Mick and tell him about Elizabeth, but his phone was turned off.

Weird. I left him a message on his voicemail, and when my phone rang two minutes later I answered, sure it was Mick on the line.

"Thank God, you called. Elizabeth's sick, you have to come over now."

No one answered.

"Mick?"

I heard a whisper. "Guess again."

I stared at the void with my mouth hanging open.

"Dave?"

"Hi, Bells. It's been a real long time."

The understatement of the century, I'd say.

"And whose fault is it, huh? You've had my number for twenty freaking years and you never used it!"

"You put it in an envelope labeled 'open just in case of a real emergency', what was I supposed to think?"

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. Typical Dave.

"So…" I said, "How are things doing in La Push? And what's the emergency?"

"Bella… we need you. Big time. Strange things are happening… and I fear there are ghosts involved. Evil spirits. Many people have died."

I shivered. "Tell me some more."

"Mostly men… always near the cliff at First Beach. We can hear whispers in the wind when no one is around, or see things written in the wall that appeared out of nowhere. Bells, it's getting scarier by the second around here… and you might be the only one that could set things right. It's your field of expertise."

"Thanks so much for reminding me. But don't think for one second I believed the 'we'. No one knows of this phone call, does it?"

"Bella, things here are serious. The fact you're a vampire will be the last thing on their minds. Please… come home. Many things have changed… you've no idea."

I sighed, glancing at the room where Elizabeth was sleeping. "Dave, I can't. Not right now. I'm in the middle of a very messy situation… I can't leave."

"Bella, I'm begging you."

And I wasn't used on refusing Dave anything. Plus, I really wanted to go to the place I had called home for the first eighteen years of my life. But I couldn't leave right now, and I repeated that to him.

"I'll see what I can do, Dave. I promise."

He was disappointed. And so was I. I banged my head against the wall a couple of times.

"What's wrong, Bella?" asked Rosalie, joining me on the roof.

"I received a phone call. From Dave."

"The wolf?"

"Yep. Sounds like the reservation is in danger."

"And why should you care? They kidnapped and tried to kill you. They don't deserve your help!" she hissed through her teeth. She was right, in a way. I wished I was able to hold a grudge.

"I would do it for Dave, not for the others. He helped me escape, and he has always been a good friend to me."

"Except for the last twenty years."

I sighed and looked away, biting my lip. I couldn't tell her I was seriously thinking about going, but somehow she realized it by herself. God, I hated how much Rosalie knew me.

"You cannot be serious!" she almost shouted, clutching my shoulders. "You can't go there! Can't you see it's a trap?"

"No, it's not. Dave vas genuinely worried… scared, even. It's all true."

"Whatever. It's their problem, not yours! Would you please put yourself first for a change?"

Ok, that was a first. I knew Rosalie cared for me, that somehow I had found a little place in her heart next to Emmett, but now I looked at her in the eyes, and I saw something new… something that I usually saw in Esme's eyes. Rosalie loved me for real, and not just because she had to. I smiled.

"Rose, relax. I'm not going anywhere. Elizabeth needs us now… the werewolves can wait."

"Elizabeth. Right. I admit, when I felt her heart stop all of sudden…"

"Plain scary."

Rose gave me an eloquent look. "Did you know her heart was sick?"

"Not a word. She hates to be considered weak. Sounds familiar?"

Rosalie gave me an astonished, outraged look. "Are you comparing _me_ to _her_?"

"Beautiful, stubborn, tenacious, brave… yeah, I think I am."

"Well, stop. I'm nothing like her. And she wishes she were as beautiful as me."

"Yeah, she probably does…" I said, trying not to laugh.

Rosalie hit me hard in the head with her hand.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"I'm your sister, I don't need a reason to hit you."

I was going to reply, when we heard someone racing up the stairs. Emmett opened the metal door and ran to us.

"Bells, we have a problem."

"What, Emmett? Did something happen to Elizabeth?"

"She's gone. Out of thin air. She disappeared under Esme and Carlisle's noses, for crying out loud!"

I immediately ran down the stairs to Elizabeth's room. Esme was looking at the empty bed, worried sick.

"I don't understand… why did she have to run away? Gabriel hadn't come back for real… or did he?"

I shook my head. Any guess could be the right one. Elizabeth was so complicated to read… My eyes fell on the cards disposed neatly on the covers. The Tower. The Moon. The Wheel of Fortune. The Death. Whatever she had seen in those cards made her decide to leave the hospital and run, ignoring her health conditions.

But _what_ did she see?

* * *

And with this evil cliffhanger I tell you goodbye... Saturday I'm leaving to spend a month abroad to study German, and I don't think I will be able to update this fic (or any of my fic) before early November. Sorry. So... See you in November, guys! ; )


	9. Sorrow

[**Elizabeth**]

When I woke up, Carlisle told Esme to keep an eye on me and she took his word to the letter. Whatever they didn't want me to know was outside that door… and Carlisle knew Esme was the perfect guard for me, because I would never try and fight against her. I simply couldn't bring myself to… and beside that, I knew it would be completely useless. What chance could I have, with my unstable heart, against an invulnerable being?

At least they left me my tarots. I started mixing the cards, my mind a million years away. Maybe… maybe I could try and find out what happened by myself… The cards and my sixth sense never let me down, and I needed both more than ever in that moment. I silently displayed the cards in front of me. Was my grandmother alive? I was asking them. And the verdict hit me like a blade straight to the heart. Grandma Helena was dead. That was the real reason why I felt so bad earlier that day… I could even imagine her surrounded by her roses… everything was fine, and then all of sudden…

I widened my eyes. What the hell was that? One second I was looking at the cards, and one second after I saw Gabriel attacking my grandmother. He crushed her against his iron body, provoking the internal damage… he then bit her on the wrist, drinking her blood, to be sure she wouldn't survive… and then he sat her in her chair, so that everyone would look at her and think she fell asleep…

I started crying silently. In half a second, Esme was next to me, giving me a hug.

"She's dead, isn't she?"

Esme sighed, and kept stroking my hair. "The blood loss was too big. Her heart was weak, it couldn't cope…"

"Did she suffer?"

"Carlisle made sure she spent her last moments in peace."

I was sure of that. Carlisle would never let someone suffer if he could do something about it. I was going to tell her what I had just experienced, but I decided to keep my mouth shut. Bella and Jasper's words resonated loud and clear in my head. That girl, Alice… she could see the future. I just saw the past… and I wondered what I could see if I asked the tarots where Gabriel was. Maybe I could learn something useful… That monster took away from me the only person he should have never dared to touch. I didn't care what could happen to me. All I wanted was to get revenge.

I asked Esme if she could get me something to eat because I was starving, and with a smile she immediately went to find something. I felt incredibly sorry. Esme looked so much like my mom that I felt horrible lying to her. But I had already decided I would deal with that situation alone, and I wouldn't change my mind.

The first card I picked was The Tower. The Moon, The Wheel of Fortune and The Death followed it. I didn't like that combination of cards. I didn't like how it was making me feel… I was upset, nervous… and then another vision hit me. For a moment I felt satisfied… Gabriel was in my vision.

But Mick was in there, too. He was lying in a pool of his own blood, with his throat slashed. They were at my studio. I could recognize the photos on the wall… I immediately tore the IV from my arm and jumped out of the bed. I quickly changed into my clothes, and after checking if Esme or any other Cullen was in sight, I went out of my room and the hospital. I didn't know if what I had seen had already happened or was about to. If there was a chance to save my best friend, I would do the impossible to make it happen.

[**Bella**]

We were in Elizabeth's room, discussing what to do next, when I saw him. Mick was looking at me from the other side of the room, with a sad look in his eyes and his throat horribly slashed. Jasper noticed I was staring at the void, and he immediately asked me if I knew the ghost.

"Yes," I whispered, chocking back a sob. "It's Mick."

When I said his name, Mick immediately realized I could see him. He pointed a finger at himself and asked me if I really could see him.

"Yes, Mick, I can see and hear you."

"Really? How?"

I sighed. "Long story. Mick… what happened to you?"

"Gabriel. Half an hour ago."

"I'm sorry."

"Well, it's not your fault, isn't it? Bastard son of a bitch found me at school after my detention and… you can imagine the rest."

"Do you know where Lizzie is? Please, tell me you were already here when she ran away."

Mick nodded. "I was here, but she didn't say a thing about where she was headed…"

I bit my lip. Elizabeth read the tarots before leaving. What if she had seen his friend's death?

"Mick… where are you? I mean… where is..?"

"Elizabeth's studio. Do you think she's going there? Bella, he's still there, he will kill her! You have to do something!"

"We will."

"Care to share your thoughts with us, little sister?" asked Emmett.

"Mick's dead. Gabriel killed him less than an hour ago in Elizabeth's studio."

"Gabriel?" asked Jasper. "But I thought…"

"Yes, I know. Talk about coincidences. And I'm afraid that this is exactly what Elizabeth saw in the tarots."

"I thought she could only see the future," said my husband.

I sighed. "Apparently not, Jasper. We have to run. Mick said Gabriel is still there… Elizabeth is in danger."

Carlisle nodded. "Esme and I will stay here. Rosalie, Emmett… go to Elizabeth's house, keep an eye on her adoptive family. Just in case. Bella, Edward, Jasper…"

"We'll go there immediately."

"Whatever happens, take her back here. After this, I'll need to visit her again."

A quarter of second later we all left the room, and Jasper and I, along with Edward, rushed to the car.

We just hoped to arrive at the studio before it was too late for Elizabeth.

[**Elizabeth**]

After I got out from the metro I ran to the studio the faster I could, ignoring my heart and all the signals my body was giving me to make me slow down or better yet, stop and go back to the hospital.

The door of my studio was slightly open. I pushed it a little, so I could enter… Mick was on the floor, right in front of me, with the eyes wide open. He looked terrified, even in death…

"No…" I started sobbing, and I kneeled beside him. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… Forgive me, it's all my fault…"

When I finally found the strength to raise my eyes from his body, I looked at what was around me, and I started shivering.

When I first entered the room, I was too focused on Mick to notice. But now I could see without a doubt the black roses adorning every free surface of the studio, and that every photograph on the walls had been replaced by another one, nailed on the wall in the exact place where the other had been. And all the new photographs were about me… from the moment I came back from Canada till a few hours earlier that day.

I realized in that moment that I had stepped into the lion's den. And that the lion was there with me.

"Hi, Elizabeth," Gabriel said, slowly approaching me from behind. "It's been a really long time since we last saw each other."

"Not nearly enough, in my opinion."

I felt him put his colds hand on my shoulders. I instinctively jerked away, and turned to face him. He laughed.

"There was a time you liked when I touched you."

"There's a chart in the hospital saying otherwise."

"That was just your fault. Like your friend and your grandmother's death. You used them as pawns in your game against me… and as pawns they just fell down…"

Before I could realize what I was doing, I attacked him. Probably the most stupid thing to do in that case, but I was too enraged to think clearly. He clutched my arms before I could hit him, and I felt my left arm break like a piece of chalk under the pressure of his fingers. I screamed in pain, and he let me go. I fell on the floor, choking back my tears, and I held my injured arm close to my chest with the sane one. Perfect. Now I was completely helpless. I couldn't run, I couldn't fight back, and Gabriel knew that perfectly. But I also knew that I wouldn't be granted a quick death. No, I dared challenge him… and he would use every second of life I had left to make me understand the enormity of my mistake.

[**Bella**]

We heard Elizabeth screaming in pain when we were still one mile away from the studio. I instinctively pushed down the accelerator, to close the distance between us and her in the shortest time possible, and once we got to the building we ran up to vampire speed to the studio. Mick was dead on the floor, covered in blood. Elizabeth was bleeding from a cut on her head, and by the way she was nursing her arm it had to be broken. She was on the floor, and she looked unable to get up…

Gabriel was going to clutch her by the throat to throw her against one of the walls when we entered. I attacked him almost instantly. Ghosts might be my field of expertise, but thanks to my husband and Emmett, I was more than able to hand myself in a fight. And he definitely wasn't waiting for a vampire girl to ruin his fun with his prey.

[**Edward**]

Bella's attack was fast and precise. Gabriel never expected to be attacked from a vampire, and the blow to his face made him fall against a wall and then on the floor. I was surprised too, even though Jasper and Emmett had told me how well little Bella could handle herself in a fight. Before he could get up on his feet, Jasper was already at his wife's side, ready to help her. I moved immediately towards Elizabeth. She was covered in bruises and cuts, but except for her broken arm she didn't seem to have other broken bones.

"Elizabeth? You're going to be fine. Talk to me. Please."

Elizabeth didn't say a word. I looked briefly at Jasper and Bella fighting, and decided to take advantage of that distraction to take Elizabeth back to the hospital. I took her carefully in my arms, and I actually marveled at how frail she was, how light she weighed in my arms. Her body didn't match her spirit. Before I could take a step, though, Gabriel was right in front of me.

"She's mine. Don't you dare take her away from me."

I instinctively drew her closer, but I regretted my gesture when I heard Elizabeth moaning in pain. Jasper and Bella were immediately at my sides, growling, and Gabriel started laughing.

"Vampires? I gotta say… I'm impressed. Kudos, Lizzie, you did your homework… but don't think it's over. It will never be."

"Leave," hissed Bella through her teeth. In that moment, my sweet little sister was gone. I've never seen her eyes filled with such rage and hate. Gabriel slowly touched his jaw.

"You're gonna pay for that, little girl."

Jasper moved faster than lightning and pinned Gabriel to the wall, with a hand on his throat.

"You heard her," Jasper hissed in a menacing tone. "Go away, or I'll make you."

Gabriel smiled, deeply amused. "I'll come looking for you too."

Jasper growled, and he let him go. Without dropping his smile, Gabriel walked out of the door and disappeared. He was so sure he would win that he didn't even bother to keep fighting…

Elizabeth moaned again against my chest. Bella moved closer, and looked at the bruises on her friend's face with a sad expression.

"Let's take her back to the hospital."

"What are we going to do with…?"

"I'll take care of it," said Jasper, looking at Mick's body. "You two take care of Elizabeth. I'll see you later," he added, watching Bella. My sister moved closer and brushed her lips against his for a second.

"Okay. See you later."

We didn't bother to take the car. Bella and I ran the fastest we could to the hospital. I was still holding Elizabeth in my arms, and my mind kept on comparing this situation to the moment when I found my Bella in the dance studio with James. Another vampire hunter obsessed with his human prey… but this time the situation was more dangerous. Gabriel was a monster that didn't care of how many innocents he would have to kill in order to get what he wanted. Poor Elizabeth, no one deserved something like that. Bella went looking for Esme and Carlisle, and I waited for them in a dark corner, in order to decide what to do and how to explain Elizabeth's new wounds…

"No one asked you to come."

I looked at Elizabeth. Her eyes, that just a few moments earlier were hidden against my chest, now were staring at me. Usually I would ignore Elizabeth's harsh tone, but not this time.

"Are you saying you wanted to die? Cause it's what would've happened if we didn't show up. So I suggest you swallow your pride and show a little gratitude."

"To you?"

"I'm not talking about me, and you know that perfectly."

Elizabeth hid again her face against me and closed her eyes. She tried to suppress another moan of pain, but I heard it anyway. I also heard something that I would've never expected to hear from Elizabeth. An apology.

"I'm sorry, Edward," she whispered, so low that I was certain she didn't even hear her own voice, and in that moment I stopped being angry at her. She started crying silently, and I almost move a hand to stroke her hair, but I stopped just in time. Elizabeth would have never allowed it, and I was too determined to keep her quiet to ruin everything. I thanked God when I saw Carlisle, Esme, and Bella running to us. Carlisle immediately started checking Elizabeth's conditions, and took her from my arms. The cover story was simple: we would say the truth. But in our story Elizabeth had been attacked by Gabriel in the hospital, and luckily for us no one seemed to question it.

"You've blood on your shirt," said Bella, coming closer to me and sitting in the vacant chair at my side.

"You too."

"It's going to get worse," I added, after a moment of silence. "Much worse."

"I know. And I have the perfect solution. But you have to come with me."

"What do you have in mind?"

"I have to make a phone call," she said abruptly, and got up from the chair.

"Bella?"

But she didn't listen to me. She took her phone from her purse, and disappeared in the crowd.

[**Bella**]

It wasn't the perfect solution. It was the only solution. A way to keep Elizabeth away from Gabriel, a way to help Dave… and a way for me to get back to the place where I was born. I composed Dave's number, and waited for him to pick up. Dave answered a second after.

"I'm coming back," I said, before he had time to speak. "Tell only… Don't tell anyone. Especially my father and brother. And if someone will try to harm me again, I leave, and you people won't see me again. Deal?"

"Deal. I can't wait to see you again, Bells."

"Me too. See you in a couple of days."

It was the perfect opportunity to tell him I wouldn't go back to Forks alone. That Edward Cullen would come with me, and a girl that desperately need protection. But I didn't. It wasn't necessary for them to know, and with a little luck, they would never know.


	10. Home

[**Bella**]

We moved as soon as Carlisle was done treating Elizabeth's wounds and broken arm. I tried and relax against the seat of my car, but I couldn't. Again, I wished I was able to cry…

"He didn't mean those words," said Edward, at the wheel of my car. "You know that."

Yes, I knew… but what Edward didn't understand was that Jasper and I never fought. We were used to always agree with each other, and that fight took us completely unprepared. He told me I was being too selfless, that I didn't care about my own wellbeing, that I couldn't really think of going back to the people that almost killed me twenty years ago. But the truth was simple, and I told him that – shouted to, actually – loud and clear. He was still jealous of me and Edward, and he didn't trust him to stay alone with me for an undefined period of time. How could he have so little trust in me? He immediately realized the mistake, and tried to apologize, but the damage was done. I told everyone goodbye, and I left with Edward and Elizabeth in the middle of the night.

"Well, it's too late now. We've a job to do… both of us," I said, going back reading the giant pack of printed pages produced by Carlisle's printer a couple of hours earlier. God bless Eamonn and his devotion to work. After I told him what Dave had told me during his phone call, he sent me all the intel he could gather in such short time. Various supernatural events could cause the things Dave described me, and all were connected with angry, vengeful ghosts. Oh joy. Not that I never helped that kind of ghosts… just, they were stubborn. And potentially evil. The kind of risk Jasper never wanted me to take, even if they couldn't harm me in any way.

Anyway, when I talked about our jobs, I didn't miss Edward rolling his eyes and sighing. I would be really busy at the reservation, ant that implied he would have to spend all his time with Elizabeth. Something he wasn't so happy about.

"Come on, I'm sure she'll behave," I whispered, so not to wake my sleeping friend in the back seat.

"She was ready to fight even when we were waiting for Carlisle at the hospital…"

"Sounds like her. I wish I could be so strong, sometimes."

"You are. Who else could endure a life like yours? I couldn't. How can you bear to face death every day of your life?"

"I don't face death; I face life. It's a little complicated to explain, I know, but it's how _I _see it."

Edward didn't miss the stress in my voice, and asked me if I had resumed my search on everything related to Elissa.

"Yes, 'cause I'm stupid. That woman scares the hell out of me, now. I just hope I'll never have to fight against her. I have enough demons to fight right now… I don't need another one."

Edward put one hand on my shoulder. "I promised Jasper, Emmett and Carlisle that no one will touch you. I wasn't there when they attacked you, but from what they told me it was… Well, it won't happen again."

I touched his hand, and after a moment he took it back on the driving wheel. Edward drove even faster than me, so it didn't surprise me we were just a few miles from Forks an hour or so before sunrise. Everything was the same, but at the same time it was completely different. Or maybe it was me, after all I had changed so much in the last forty years… it was incredible to think that once, so many years before, I had been human. Edward drove past Forks High School, and I couldn't help but smile, remembering all the times I found Jasper waiting for me on the other side of the road… and the one I cherished the most, when we drove to Port Angeles and we kissed for the first time. Edward saw the memory in my head and smiled, but his eyes were sad. I didn't need to be a mind reader to know who he was thinking of. I put a hand on his shoulder.

"You sure you want to stay at my house? We could go to yours."

"Ours," Edward corrected me. "And don't worry… I can make it. Plus, there's no risk of meeting werewolves by mistake there."

"Unless they come specifically for you," I added grimly. Edward tensed, and I knew he saw in his head the night when my brother and step-brother kidnapped me.

"They won't."

"I'll try to keep this from them, but if they should discover the truth… just, be prepared. My father knew about you, God only knows how, and I'm sure his friends hate you as well. People in La Push have an uncanny ability to hold a grudge, I'm telling you."

[**Edward**]

I knew from Jasper and the others how Bella had been unhappy in La Push, but seeing it in my head, in her memories, was almost unbearable. How could a father do that to his child?

Again, my thoughts ran to her mother. Being in Forks again just augmented the pain in my soul, the same excruciating pain that started in Volterra, after saying goodbye to Bella forever, and never left me alone. Elizabeth moved in her sleep, and I turned to give her a brief look before going back to drive. Carlisle told us he would've given her a strong sedative for the journey, but I never thought she would've slept all the time. Good for her, though. She needed to sleep and rest if she wanted to heal.

Bella noticed, and smiled. "Someone here is worried…" she said smiling, her voice dripping with irony.

I ignored her. "Of course I am. I remember what can happen when a hunter…"

"And that's the reason why I asked you to come. When my mother's life was at stake because of James, you were there… you saved her. You know what to expect in case Gabriel shows up here."

"Let's hope he won't," I replied, driving into the road that led to Chief Swan's old house. Bella sighed at my side, her head filled with memories of Charlie Swan, her beloved grandfather. She was trying not to think of her kidnapping, but the memory was still there, just underneath.

I sadly smiled. I was using her memories not to think of mine. I never thought I would come back there, and I didn't know what to expect from myself once I would step inside that house. Bella and I felt Elizabeth stirring behind us, and Bella turned her head with a smile, asking her how she felt.

"Horrible, thanks for asking," she muttered, combing her hair with the fingers of the sane hand. "Are we already there?"

"Yep. You slept all the time."

"Carlisle has _really_ nice pills at his disposal, I have to say…"

I stopped the car in front of the house, and Bella got out to help Elizabeth. I tensed, looking at Elizabeth's face. Under the weak light of dawn, I could see her bruises even better. She had been very lucky to get out of her studio alive, and it was what she was thinking as well in that moment. She was scared to death, even if she kept wearing her mask of bravery and sarcasm in front of me and Bella. But she couldn't fool me, not anymore… Living together in that house was bound to be very interesting.

[**Elizabeth**]

Edward gave me a very strange look, and at first I didn't realize why. It took me a couple of seconds to remember Edward was a mind reader, and that he knew exactly what was in my head at the moment. It was different… before, when my words mirrored my thoughts. But now…

I glared at Edward with all the venom I could muster. I hated to feel so vulnerable, especially in front of him.

'STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!' I mentally shouted, and it sort of did the trick. He almost jumped, and he shot me one of the resentful glares I grew used to in the previous months. I relaxed. I could deal with Edward only if our relationship remained on the same terms of when it had started – hate and annoyance towards one another, that is. I couldn't bear if he suddenly started treating me nice. It would be too weird.

Anyway, the moment we got inside Bella's house I realized something was definitely wrong with him. He was… sad. Why?

Bella noticed it as well, and got closer to him. She hugged him tightly, and asked him if he was fine.

"I'm good. Don't worry about me."

"Her room… if you want to see it… Grandpa never moved a thing, and neither did I."

Edward smiled. He was trying to act normally, but he wasn't fine… I looked at him disappearing upstairs, and then I gave Bella a questioning look.

"What were you talking about?"

"This was my grandfather's house. My mother came here to live with him when she was seventeen, and she met and fell in love with Edward a few months later. But shortly after her eighteenth birthday, Edward and his family left, leaving my mother distraught. Then she met Jacob, my father… and you know the rest."

"Why did the Cullens leave?"

"Jasper… my husband… his self-control wasn't good at the time. Bella cut herself with wrapping paper, and Jasper attacked her. She never blamed him for the accident, though."

"Okay, I get it, but why leaving?"

"He thought he was doing the best thing for her."

"Am I wrong or when she died he went to the Volturi asking to die… and they imprisoned him for nineteen years until you went saving him?"

What a stupid idea, I thought, and I didn't care if he could hear me or not. If I had been Bella, I would've hunted him down just to inflict him the pain he had inflicted me. But from what I had gathered upon Bella Swan, she wasn't vindictive. She wasn't many things that I was… we were so different we would've probably hated each other with a passion.

"I'm not saying he did good, but if he had done things differently you would be talking to my mother now, not to me. I wouldn't even exist. Now, do you want to see your bedroom?"

I nodded, and Bella took my bags from the ground. She made a quick trip to the bedroom with them, and then came back to help me. I refused to be taken upstairs in her arms, even if I knew how strong she was, so she limited to support me with an arm around my back while I climbed the stairs. I was hurting, but I didn't care. It meant I was alive... and I was determined to stay that way. We both gave a quick look at the locked door in front of my bedroom, and at the shadow we could see moving from under the door, and then we entered my bedroom. Something told me a, Edward wanted to stay alone and b, we wouldn't see him anytime soon.

[**Edward**]

Bella's thoughts were all for me, all silent offerings of comfort and support. I smiled sadly, and sat on the bed. My Bella's bed. The same bed we shared for oh so many nights, until I decided to end our story. I could still smell her scent on the clothes she left in the wardrobe… like I could ever forget it.

I looked at the wooden floor, and I wondered when Bella had discovered I had hidden all the photographs and the CD I made for her under the floorboards. Probably, it was a lucky accident. My sister didn't know it as well, but she told me how her father knew and hated that songs. Maybe her mother kept on listening to them even after she married Jacob Black?

The door slightly opened. I glanced briefly at the entrance, and I saw Bella coming in. She sat next to me, and for a while we just stood there in silence, both lost in our own mourning.

"It's time," she said. "I have to go, now."

I sighed. "I wish you didn't have to."

"Now you sound like Rosalie."

"She was definitely angry. No one was happy to let you come back here."

"Dave is a friend; I can't let him down. Plus, we have to protect Elizabeth… even if she doesn't want us to. And the most important thing of all… I need closure. I thought I had left everything behind… but there are many things left unsaid, and I'll make sure to not have any kind of unfinished business when we'll go away from Forks this time. Will you be ok?"

"Yes, for the umpteenth time. You worry too much, little sister."

"For once that I can be the one worried, let me do it, okay?" she said with a smile, getting up from the bed. "Elizabeth took another couple of pills; she is asleep, and I think she's going to sleep for another couple of hours."

"Praise the Lord."

Bella hit me in the arm. "Maybe it's not Lizzie the one that has to behave, here…"

"Just remember. At the first sign of danger, or if you just suspect something, anything… run. Jasper will have my head if I don't return you in perfect condition."

"If they try anything, first I'll bite their heads off, and _then_ I'll run."

"You're definitely Emmett's sister."

Bella laughed. "And proud to be."

[**Bella**]

I was procrastinating, and I knew it. All of sudden I started doubting my reasons to come, or like Rosalie put it, my mental health. La Push was the place where I lived the unhappiest years of my life, and I was willing to ignore it because of my ability and because Dave asked me for help. Maybe I really had to learn to put myself first, for a change. But that wasn't the right moment to start acting selfish.

I ran in the woods alongside the road, pushing back memories of blood, pain and growling wolves, until I arrived near La Push's borders. No one attacked me or stopped me… maybe they weren't patrolling that part of the woods. Or maybe there hadn't been vampires around… up to now. I got out of the woods, and started walking in the streets of the town I once called home. I wondered how much time would pass until someone would smell me in the air. The answer was two minutes and twenty-five seconds. I stopped, and I saw some familiar faces mixed with younger ones slowly trapping me in a circle. I recognized some of the kids of Josh's Clearwater gang, now young adults, and other people that knew and hated me. In a second I wasn't Bella Cullen anymore, but poor Bella Black, the girl that those werewolves once almost killed…

"Someone lays a finger on her, and that someone will run on three paws!"

I didn't miss the command tone in that voice behind my shoulder. Guess he really meant it when he told me he climbed the ranks of the pack. I turned on my heels with a smile, and I removed my sunglasses.

Dave looked at me and started laughing.

"Jesus, Bells," he said, pointing at my sparkling skin. "You're a freak show!"

"Look who he's talking…" I replied, still a little shocked. Dave hadn't aged a day from the last time I saw him!

"Dave, what the hell is happening? She's a damn bloodsucker!"

"And a Quileute and my best friend, Don, so back off!"

Clearly, no one was expecting that. And here I was, thinking that my story was used to scare young werewolves during bonfire nights…

Dave took my hand, and I remembered to stop breathing. His smell was definitely not pleasant to me anymore.

"Don't mind the cubs, Bells. They still have to learn the good manners. Welcome back. I missed you," he then added in a whisper.

I gently squeezed his hand in response. One second later, I was back to be Bella Cullen… and Bella Cullen had some work to do.

"Take me to Sam. I have to talk to him."

Suddenly everyone gave me a very uncomfortable look.

"What? What did I say? Isn't Sam the pack leader anymore?"

"He… resigned. Sort of. Long story."

"Can't wait to hear it. So, who's the new Alpha? Do I have to worry?" I added with a smile. I was thinking of Quil and Embry… but I should've known better.

"Bella… the new Alpha is your father. Jacob has been our leader for the last twenty years."

Jacob. My father. Oh God.

"Bella?"

I wasn't listening. Jacob was the Alpha. There was no way I could not see him. And Charlie…

Another curve ball thrown at me by destiny, when I was finally sure destiny was done with me.

"I'm fine," I said, feigning an inner quiet I wasn't feeling at all. "Take me to him."

_Before I change my mind..._


	11. Guilt

**[Elizabeth]**

When I woke up, it took me a while to realize where I was. The rose-framed bed, the delicate shades of blue, yellow and green on the walls, drapes and covers… lovely, but completely unfamiliar. Then Edward knocked at my door. Pretending to be still asleep was useless with a mind reader in the house, so I sat on the bed and told him to come in.

"I had a feeling you could be awake. Do you feel like eating something?"

"To see it again after a couple of hours? No, thanks. Coffee, maybe."

"Caffeine will just increase your pain. It'd better…"

"I understand you can't believe I can be more of a bitch than I already am, but unless you want to meet someone new and royally pissed I suggest you let me drink my morning coffee."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Thanks. Where is Bella?"

Edward took a grim expression. "She went to the reservation."

"Alone? You let her go face a pack of werewolves alone?"

"Listen, I'm not happy either, but Bella would've never accepted my help. Or yours. She wants to do that on her own."

"I don't like werewolves. I don't trust them."

"They're not exactly werewolves. More like shapeshifters."

"Same thing. Worse, actually."

Edward smiled. "Another of your grandmother's stories?"

"What else?"

I smiled as well, remembering all the times my Grandma told me those stories. Now it was like I was inside one of them. I wondered what she would've said about my new friends if we just had arrived sooner…

"Don't torture yourself. We can't change the past."

"Didn't I already tell you to stay the hell out of my head?"

"As I've already explained you tons of times: I can't. Get used to it."

I tried and narrowed the eyes to shoot him a death glare, but all I got was a grimace of pain.

"And I'm not bringing you coffee either. Painkillers and caffeine don't go well together. And you obviously need the former."

"Don't you dare!" I said, throwing a pillow against him. He moved so fast he was already in the kitchen by the time the pillow touched the floor. With a deep sigh, I let myself fall on the pillows I had left, wondering how in the hell I was going to survive in Edward Cullen's ex girlfriend's house, with just Edward around.

Out of boredom after a few minutes, I grabbed the phone from the nightstand and called Bella. I didn't expect her to reply immediately, but when she did I felt relieved to hear her voice. At least, she was still alive and well. But definitely unhappy.

"Bella, spit it out. What's wrong? Except the obvious, that is."

"Nothing… Just a twist I wasn't expecting, that's all. I can handle it. Really."

"Yeah, well… we're here. And I'd do anything just to escape Edward's grasp…"

"No way in hell."

"Famous last words…"

"I'll try and stop by later, but no promises. And give E… him a chance, K? He's not the ogre you think."

"You're not alone, aren't you?"

"Gotta go. Take care, Liz."

My reply was silenced by the dial tone. Damn you, Bella. I couldn't help but worry. She was older, stronger, even wiser than me… but you couldn't look at her without feeling the need to be there for her every time. Jasper must feel that sensation every single day of his life.

Again, I hoped she wasn't lying to me. Werewolves and shapeshifters weren't always pictured as good guys in my tribe's legends. Especially shapeshifters. I was more than willing to put my judgment on hold for the time being, but my instinctive, inner distrust wasn't something easy to ignore.

**[Bella]**

Elizabeth was worried, and I tried my best not to give away the truth. I was worried too. Even a little scared. Facing my father and Charlie – and Josh, Leah and the child Dave told me they had after I 'died' – wasn't something I had planned to do.

"Friends of yours? That girl… Liz."

"Yep. She's human, though."

"Risky."

"Maybe, but we both need each other and our friendship. And the family loves her… most of the family, anyway. And don't think I changed my mind. Dave? Spit it out. All I missed."

"It's a long story."

"Make it short. There no chance in hell I'm going to face my father without knowing how he became the Alpha."

He lowered his eyes, and took a sad expression.

"Dave, what's wrong?"

"As you wish, Bella. I'm not sure you're gonna like it, though."

And he began his tale. Oh God. I so didn't want to hear it, he was right.

When I got back for the funeral, things were already bad. Dave had imprinted on Grace Uley, Dave's fiancée's best friend. But to make things worse, Grace, a new addition to the pack, had imprinted on him too, and way before Dave did. That explained why Grace didn't want to help the pregnant bride-to-be with the wedding plans and spent all the time locked in her room crying. She fought it the hardest she could, she even ran away from the pack, but eventually she confessed everything to Dave. Unable to stay away from each other, the two started an affair, and when Julie found out all hell broke loose. Sam and Embry stood up in defense of the couple, against Quil, Paul and the other friends of the Atearas. They would work things out, but Julie, filled with anger and hate, just wanted Dave and Grace to pay. She had no chance against the female werewolf in a direct fight, so she chose the best way to be sure to be never forgotten by the couple. Julie went to the cliff on First Beach during a storm, and jumped in the ocean, killing herself and her unborn child.

That tragedy weighted on Sam's heart, as much as the hate of his friends. Grace and Dave went away from the reservation, to live in the woods for a while, but when they came back they were still watched with disdain, even if it wasn't their fault. Sam welcomed the couple to live with them, but to prevent another fracture within the pack he decided to leave the pack and his position of leader to Jacob, reminding to everyone ready to discuss that choice that Jacob had been the true Alpha all along as the last member of Ephraim Black's bloodline. It took some years, but in the end things got back to what they were before I became a vampire. Leah and Jacob married, they had a daughter, Faith. Dave became Jacob's second-in-command and married Grace. Quil left the pack to live a normal life, and died in a car crash a couple of years later, leaving Claire distraught. The young widow left the reservation and no one ever saw her again. But the worst was just about to happen. My brother, Charlie… he transferred the hate he felt for me on Faith, his little step-sister. Another intruder, as Josh and Leah had become as well. But Faith had a big brother and a mother ready to defend her… and a father too, something I never had. Something he couldn't fight against… and that just increased the hate inside of him. Charlie became a danger to the pack because of his erratic, violent behavior and was banned first by the other werewolves, and then by the tribe. He came back during one of the bonfire nights, and blamed everyone and me for everything that went wrong in his life. He also confessed he had really tried to kill me twice. And he was proud of that.

"Your father didn't believe you when you accused Charlie at the funeral. But hearing this coming from him… Bella, I can't even describe it to you."

I was trying my best to choke my sobs now.

"Try."

Jacob, Dave told me, attacked Charlie with such rage and fury it took five men to restrain him. He shouted him it was his fault he had lost me. That he would never forgive himself for not seeing the truth sooner. And that until he lived he would never see him again.

The same night Charlie went to the Cullen mansion, and set the house on fire. I don't know why, the house had been abandoned for years, and the treaty was broken… we would've never come back. He probably didn't plan to die in the fire, but that was what happened.

God. Of all things… I would've never expected that. I didn't exactly live in blissful joy either, with all that happened with Edward's return, but I had never imagined something like that to happen not even in my nightmares. I didn't love my brother, but I never wished him to die such a horrible, painful death.

"Bella…. No one obliges you to go see your father immediately."

"I have to."

"No you don't. Why don't we go at my house? I'm sure Sam and Grace will be pleased to see you. And my parents, too."

The offer was more than tempting, and I said yes. Truth was, I wanted to see the former leader of the pack. I wanted to know more of what had happened.

**[Elizabeth]**

I wanted to know more of what had happened.

I didn't know where that thought came from, but it just didn't want to go away. That was her house, I was lying in a bed one door away from her room, and when Edward wasn't talking or fighting with me, I could see it in his eyes… I wasn't the only one living in a nightmare.

Bella told me something, but she never went into detail. Not that I ever asked her to. And I would've never asked Edward. So… just one option left: my tarots, and that freaky thing I discovered I could do.

Bella, being Bella, knew how the tarots were important to me and left them on the nightstand near my phone. I took them and silently mixed the card, concentrating on the one whose name I would've never said aloud.

Bella Swan.

For every card I took in my hand, I could see something new. Bella arriving in Forks. Bella meeting Edward for the first time. Bella and Edward in the meadow…

I didn't even notice Edward coming in the room. I didn't even notice the door open, it was all too fast. One second I sat on the bed surrounded by cards, a quarter of second later I was lying flat on my back and my tarots were floating in the air all around me. I could just stare at Edward's face a few inches away from mine… and the hateful glare in his eyes.

"You want me to stay out of your head. Stay out of _mine_, too," he hissed.

Just then I realized the big mistake I had done. I tried not to shiver when I felt the cast on my wrist crack under his grasp. For a second or two, his face disappeared and I saw Gabriel's face instead, a hallucination so real I began shiver and my eyes filled with tears. I might have even whispered 'don't hurt me, please…'. Or maybe I just thought it. I didn't know. One second later I was alone once more, still hearing in my ear Edward's whispered excuses. I hugged my casted wrist and followed with a finger the slight rift on its surface. He went for that because I was holding a card with the right hand…

I dried my eyes with the back of the other hand and took a deep breath. I couldn't blame him, it had been my fault, and I had completely underestimated the situation and the entity of the wound in Edward's soul. Stupid, curious, careless girl. I would stab in the neck whoever dared to talk ill about my parents and I didn't stop thinking that for him it could be the same.

I got up, slowly and ignoring the pain, and I went downstairs. The door was still open; Edward had to have run outside to clear his mind. Swallowing my pride, I would make sure to present him with some decent excuses by the time he would come back home.

**[Bella]**

Everything was the same, but at the same time it wasn't. Kim and Embry were happy to see me, but they couldn't bring themselves to look at my sparkling skin and golden eyes. I was still Bella, but I was also one of their tribe's sworn enemy. A walking contradiction.

Sam had gotten older since the last time I had seen him. Emily's death had taken a toll on him, but living with Dave and Grace (and the Calls were there so often it was like they were living there too) seemed to have given him back the will to live. I wondered if my father was now as old as he looked, or if he and Leah had decided to keep phasing and stay young.

He smiled to me when I sat next to him. "Sounds like I'm the outcast now."

"You stood up for your daughter, it's something my father never did for me."

"You're still bitter, even after all this time."

"I wasn't. Then Dave begged me to come back, and all my old feelings came back as well. Guess that they will never change."

"Your father did. He never forgave himself for what he has done to you, for believing Charlie's word instead of yours.

"Charlie is dead, and so am I. It's a little late, don't you think?"

"Charlie can't talk to him, you still can. It's never too late to make things right."

Sam was still too wise for my liking, so I changed topic and I asked him about the strange things happening in the tribe.

"A few months after Charlie's death, we started finding dead animals in the woods, some trees died without an explanation… we didn't think it was important until people started disappearing. Men mostly. They all disappeared in the woods, and we found them at First Beach, all drowned."

"Someone here is very angry at you Quileutes. And according to my experience, and my friend Eamonn's experience… we're dealing with a vengeful ghost. Or more than one. Resentment is something powerful, can keep you tied up to this world even after death… what's wrong?"

Sam was looking at me with a strange expression, something between astonishment and pride.

"Nothing, Bella… it's just the way you talk about it. I just wished for a second that things had gone differently."

"If things had gone like you and my father wanted, I would've killed myself sooner or later. I can sustain this thing just because I'm a vampire. And I can't postpone this any longer, I have to meet Jacob. Is he going to make a scene or something?"

"We're going to find it out. I told Kim and Embry to stop by his house and alert him of your coming."

I sighed and hid my face in my hands. "Nice. So freaking nice! Why you didn't tell me, for God's sake?"

"I had a feeling that your body might have changed, but not your mind. Your primary instinct is still to avoid your father at all costs. Even when you don't want to."

I shot him a death glare a couple of seconds before someone knocked at the door.

"Who's there?" asked Dave, already behind the door.

"Who do you think, Call? Let me in!"

Dave gave me a pained look but Sam nodded and told him to open the door.

"Sounds like we're receiving the avant-garde…" he said with an amused smile. I had no idea of what he was talking about until the girl that had spoken earlier was right in front of me. Not that I needed a clue on her mother's identity. Like me, she was the spitting image of hers. And that would make her… Oh. My. God.

"Bella, I'd like you to meet Faith Black. Faith, this is Bella."

"My supposedly dead half-sister," she replied looking at Sam. Then her black eyes set on me. "About time you came here."

"I was busy."

"Faith, what are you doing here?" asked Sam.

"Mom and Dad weren't at home, I left them a message."

"Leah will kill you."

Faith shrugged and sat next to me. She looked fifteen… I wondered if she was a werewolf too.

"I'm the human of the family if you are wondering that. No wolf gene or strange stuff. Quite a disappointment, after two wolf brothers and a vampire sister."

Well, now I could tell without a doubt where my wits came from. Faith and I just had a parent in common, after all. I was going to say something, when the door almost fell down under a vigorous knocking.

Faith sighed. "Here they come…"

The first to enter was an older Leah, still clutching in her fist the message Faith had written. She didn't even look at me, and I felt somewhat relieved. Being at the receiving end of Leah Clearwater's wrath wasn't something pleasant. But Faith was demonstrating that not only she could handle it, but she could fight back really well. Kudos to my kid sister. But when I stopped looking at the two arguing, I ended up staring at my father. He had looked at me since he came inside the house, and I ignored it the best I could… but now I couldn't anymore.

I silently got up, and he preceded me out of the house. Just Sam and Dave noticed, but they did nothing to stop us. Oh God. The moment had come.

He phased into a wolf, and ran in the forest. I followed him, until we were in the middle of the forest, where no one would've heard our discussion. When he phased back (with his clothes, even I knew how remarkable that was), he gave me a long look, probably trying to reconcile once again the last mental image he had of the human me with the vampire he had in front of his eyes. He was trying to talk, but he couldn't find the words, or the courage, so I broke the ice myself.

"I take Dave really didn't mention his idea to save the reservation to you."

"He was talking about an expert… I didn't imagine he was talking about you."

"Well… surprise."

"What's happening then?"

"Angry spirits that have finally found a way to get back at the living. And it's going to be much worse, before it gets better. I've seen it before."

"You've seen it before."

"It's what I do. I'm Melinda freaking Gordon, remember?"

"Kind difficult not to. Bella…"

I raised a hand to silence him. "Don't. You. Dare. It's been twenty years, Jacob. I don't care what Sam might think. It's too late. For everything."

"I've never been a good father to you."

"You've never been a father, period. Look, I'm sorry for Charlie, but…"

That clearly had surprised him. "You're sorry… for the brother that tried to kill you?"

"Still my brother, I suppose. I would have never wished him to die like that."

"Someone up there clearly did."

"Isn't a bit late to change idea on your favorite child, Jacob?" I hissed. "Enjoy your new family and stop bothering me!"

Jacob flinched like I hit him in the face. I didn't plan on using that tone – really – but everything I said… well, it was true. I had a new family, brothers and a loving husband. He had a new wife and a new daughter. Our paths diverged twenty years earlier and I didn't see a reason to make them cross again after solving that ghost problem.

It was true… you can't never go home again. The weak link keeping me tied up to that place was severing itself, at last. The Cullens were my roots, they had always been... Talk about destiny.

I don't even remember what I told him after that. Probably nothing… I realized I wasn't in the reservation anymore when I caught a glimpse of the graveyard in which my mother was buried. I immediately slowed down, so to stop there and visit my mom's grave. Coming closer, I saw a guy with red-brown hair standing in front of it. I wasn't surprised, but I couldn't believe he would've left Elizabeth alone… Then I saw her, and judging by their faces I had just missed something big.

I definitely wasn't the only one having problems at the moment…


	12. Exposed

[Edward]

I was disgusted with myself. The look in Elizabeth's eyes, the way I reacted… I shouldn't have done it. But those thoughts caught me completely by surprise… no, they weren't thoughts. More like memories, flashbacks of my time with Bella. I had no idea of how Elizabeth could see them, but every one of them was a stab to my heart. I just wanted to make the pain stop… and I ended up injuring an already injured girl.

I considered running some more and go hunting down some mountain lions – anything to stop thinking of the fear in her eyes, of the sound of her cast breaking – but I changed my mind at the last second. There was a place I had always wanted to see and I never got a chance to. Someone else there deserved to hear my apologies, even if they arrived more than forty years late.

***

Bella was buried next to her father. I couldn't even imagine what it had been like for Charlie to lose his beloved child when she was so young. But he never blamed my little sister for that, like Jacob did. Jacob… just thinking of him made my blood boil in the veins. He betrayed Bella, he had a child with another woman while he was still married to her, and treated his daughter like she meant nothing to him. I hoped not to face him during our stay there, or I wouldn't have responded of my actions.

"You deserved so much better, my love," I said, kneeling in front of her grave so to look directly at her smiling picture. "From me, from the father of your children, from everyone else. I thought I was protecting you… if just I had known how much pain my choices would cause to everyone… your amazing daughter brought happiness back to Jasper's life, and he doesn't blame me for Alice's death… but I do. I'll always feel responsible for your unhappiness and her death. I hope you'll forgive me, one day."

"I think she already did."

I turned my head. A few feet from me, there was Elizabeth.

[Elizabeth]

I couldn't stand to be in that house all by myself. Too much silence, and I had the impression every wall was silently judging me unworthy of living in the Swan residence. Not that I felt at home, anyway. I took my jacket and the camera before realizing that I was in no condition of taking pictures with my casted arm. Habits are hard to crack, I suppose.

I kept replaying in my head what had happened with Edward, and every time I felt guiltier than the time before. Once I even took my phone in the hand, ready to dial Mick's number.

My eyes filled with tears, and I let them flow down my face. My fault. My best friend. My grandmother. It was all my fault. If only Gabriel hadn't played with me and just killed me the night we met…

How I ended up near the graveyard, I don't know. Lost in my thoughts, I was walking without a clear direction, and every time I saw something I had already seen in my visions I turned my heels and went somewhere else. Funny, cause after what had happened , that was the only place I was actually dreading to find. Bella Swan's ultimate home.

And my curiosity kicked in again… I just didn't know I was going to get more than what I expected.

***

I was surprised to see Edward there. Then I chastised myself. _Of course he was going to be there, you idiot girl. You just pushed your visions of Bella into his head! _

I was going to leave, when I heard Edward speaking.

"You deserved so much better, my love. From me, from the father of your children, from everyone else. I thought I was protecting you… if just I had known how much pain my choices would cause to everyone… your amazing daughter brought happiness back to Jasper's life, and he doesn't blame me for Alice's death… but I do. I'll always feel responsible for your unhappiness and her death. I hope you'll forgive me, one day."

I felt thunderstruck. I spent months fighting Edward, certain that there was no way in hell he could understand me or what I had been through. Truth was that his armor was just one thousand times better than mine… and here in Forks, he was just as vulnerable and broken as I was.

"I think she already did," I whispered, knowing he would hear me anyway. Edward turned his head and looked straight at me. I lowered my eyes, even if I was sure he had already noticed they were swollen and red. Truth was… I didn't know what to expect now. I couldn't keep Edward at a distance, not after what I had heard.

I heard him getting up from the ground and coming closer. Oh God. I would've given anything to have the strength to turn and run away. No walls, nothing to shield me with… could I really do it?

"Why are you here?"

"No idea. I… got out of the house and started walking."

"You shouldn't have."

Usually I would've replied with a snarky comment, instead I just sighed and looked straight at him.

"You're right. I shouldn't have. I'm so sorry," I said, hoping he would realize I wasn't talking about my stroll in the woods. And he did.

"As am I," he replied, and the burden I felt on my heart disappeared. He was looking at my cast, and I immediately said that no, it wasn't a big deal, just a hairline fracture and that there was nothing to worry about.

"Are you sure of that? Maybe we should go to the hospital."

"No need. Besides… Plenty of experience with broken bones and casts, remember?"

"Anyway, we better go now… you didn't take your meds before coming out, right?"

"Didn't even cross my mind. I might need a painkiller or two now…" I said, massaging my sore shoulder.

I was feeling the burning desire to kill myself. That conversation was… embarrassing. We were both feeling guilty towards each other, and being a mind-reader and all he was probably very much aware of my musings about him. If I didn't know how to relate to him anymore, it was as clear as the sun that neither did he.

We both felt immensely relieved when Bella showed up there.

"Hey, weren't you supposed to rest?" she said to me with a smile. I exchanged a quick look with Edward. Bella didn't have to know what had happened between us.

"You know me, I can't just lie in a bed and do nothing," I said with a smile, but Bella was Bella: reading between the lines was what she did best. I saw her eyeing suspiciously my cast, not fooled for a second by the lame excuse I tried to sell to justify the damage, but for some reason she didn't say a word. She was probably more interested in the place where she found the two of us.

"I wanted to visit my mother… seems like we all had the same idea at the same time."

Bella's smile vanished from her face while saying that, and both Edward and I knew there could be only a reason for that change.

"It didn't go well, right?"

Bella sighed. "I shouldn't ever come here. I thought I was over my father and what happened… but I'm not. A part of me never left this place."

I got closer to my friend and put one hand on her shoulder. "Bella, I can take care of myself. You're not obliged to…"

"Nice try, but you're not getting rid of me that easily. Besides… the 'problem' Dave mentioned to me is serious. People have died, and unless I don't find a way to make the ghost cross over, other people will die. I can't walk away from that."

I barely restrained myself from telling her – shouting, actually – that she was too selfless for her own good, and judging from Edward's expression, he was sharing my thoughts… in more ways than one.

He sighed.

"And there's nothing I could say or do to make you change your mind."

"Nope," Bella replied with a smile. "But you could make yourself useful and take Elizabeth home," she continued, looking straight at me. "Am I wrong or your meds have worn off by now?"

I was going to deny it, but unfortunately my head was killing me and so was my shoulder. The mere idea of getting painkillers sounded really, really nice… and funny, judging from Edward's giggle. I glared at him and hit Edward in the arm, but it was a just pale imitation of my usual behavior. Really, the wall went down so fast and so unexpectedly, I couldn't believe Bella hadn't already called off my bluff. Or Edward's. I couldn't even imagine how much upset she was, for not noticing something so clear.

I nodded, telling Bella that I needed painkillers and a little rest, and before I could protest Edward took me in his arms. He murmured a salute at Bella, and then he started to run at the speed of… well, I couldn't tell for sure, but he sure was running fast. I closed my eyes tightly and held onto him; before I realized it, we were already home.

At that point, I just wanted to go back to bed and sleep some more.

"In a moment, ok? You should first take your meds," Edward replied. I realized I didn't care anymore if he stayed out of my head or not. Whatever.

"No. Take me upstairs first. Please."

"As you wish," he said, carrying me on the stairs. He helped me lie down on the bed, and made sure I was comfortable before going downstairs to take the meds. We didn't say a word during all of this. We were trying desperately to ignore the elephant in the room, so I decided to bring up the only topic we could discuss to get out of that embarrassing situation.

"I don't care what she says. If the situation gets worse, you have to keep Bella from hurting herself."

"And you think she'll let me? Not even Jasper can do it, and he's her husband," he said, sitting on the bed.

"I hate being unable to do anything for her."

"Stay out of trouble, that'll do."

"Be grateful I'm just too bruised to hit you," I said, swallowing the pills with a big gulp of water. Edward chuckled.

"The elephant in the room, huh?"

Oh God.

"Please," I groaned. "I don't have the strength for this."

"I just wanted to say that is as every bit as weird for me as it is for you."

"I really don't think so."

I was used to being on my own, counting on myself and keeping everyone at a distance. I wasn't used to feeling so vulnerable and exposed…

"You're wrong," he said.

"Really? What do you know about that?"

"More than you think."

[Edward]

I sighed. Elizabeth was sure I couldn't understand what she was feeling, but she hadn't been the only one to hide behind a wall. Sure, I had Bella, and the rest of my family, but inside of me I thought that no one would've ever understood how I felt inside. Losing Bella, and knowing it had been entirely my fault, destroyed me. But leaving my family again... I couldn't do that to them again, could I? So I faked it, built thick walls between myself and the world, so that no one would keep worrying for me and my wellbeing. I wanted to be alone, but since I couldn't go away, I decided I would settle for the next best thing. They would let me be if they thought I was finally back to my old self, and so it happened.

And all it took for my armor to shatter was the look in Elizabeth's eyes when I met her at the graveyard. For the first time in years, I felt like someone could look inside of me, past the lies, the walls I built. For the first time in years, I couldn't lie or pretend to be something I wasn't.

And the shocking news was that Elizabeth was every bit as broken as I was. I could see it in her eyes, and hear it in the thoughts Elizabeth was no longer trying so fiercely to hide from me. She was confused and scared by that sudden revelation that could change everything. We had caught a glimpse of this after Gabriel's attack, but we managed to go back to our normality. Now… it was impossible. I had seen too much, and I couldn't watch Elizabeth the same way as before anymore.

Damn it.

"I'll let you rest now," I said, getting up from her bed. Elizabeth sank into her pillows and hugged herself, holding the covers tightly around her body. My mind couldn't conciliate yet the Elizabeth in that bed with the fiery half-gypsy teenager I fought against for months.

"Wait."

I turned, and I saw Elizabeth looking extremely conflicted. She wanted me to go… but she also wanted me to stay.

"Listen… I'm sorry. I don't know how to deal with this. The only one I ever let in was Mick. And Bella…but she was a total surprise. I'm not ready for trusting someone else at that level, Edward, not now."

Even if I know I should, she completed in her mind.

"I'll wait, them," I said with a little smile. I wasn't ready to be that open with someone either. But we certainly did a step forward that day. Who would've ever thought, judging from the way we met and related to each other since day one.

I made sure she had everything she needed, and then I went downstairs. I was trying not to go all crazy overprotective brother on Bella (that was usually Emmett's role, and he was really good at that), but I ended up calling her anyway.

"Edward, stop worrying!"

I chuckled and sat on the couch.

"Sorry, still one of your big brothers, I suppose. Where are you?"

"In the forest, I'm coming home."

"What happened at the reservation? The truth, little girl."

I could hear her grumbling from the other end of the line. She hated to be called that.

"The truth? In a nutshell: Dave's eight-month-pregnant girlfriend committed suicide when she discovered he had imprinted on another girl, no one other than her best friend. My brother sort of went crazy after my father remarried, confessed to Jacob he had really tried to kill me and set our house in the forest in fire for some reason. He died in the fire. Jacob is the new Alpha, and now he's all sorry about the way he treated me when I was alive. I basically told him to go scr…"

"Stop right there, I get the idea."

"Listen… I mean it. I wanna do this. The way I left Dave… I owe it to him. Besides…"

"Besides what?"

"I have a little sister. Faith. She's ungifted, no wolf gene or other crazy stuff. She reminds me of me. Just… happier."

I felt something in her voice that made me desire to be right next to her, and give her a hug. Jacob had another daughter, a daughter he loved and cared about. That had to be the hardest part for Bella to see.

"Listen, I'm not coming home right now, I feel like hunting a couple of deer. Or a mountain lion, maybe… I'll be quick, promise. Then you can go hunting too, if you like."

"Ok. Take care, sis."

I was going to end the call, when I realized Bella didn't hang up. She was perfectly silent, but still there.

"Bella?"

"What? No 'Oh my God, Elizabeth's a bitch, I can't stand her anymore'? No begging me to come home? What did I miss? I've been away less than two hours!"

"You missed nothing."

"Like hell I didn't. What happened?"

"Good hunting, Bella," I said and ended the call. Not the smartest move when Bella was involved, but I honestly didn't know what to tell her.

[Bella]

I stared at the phone in my hand with an outraged expression on my face. Did my brother just hang up on me? Without giving me a proper answer? Oh, I was so going to get him for that!

But after my brain would start connecting again. Elizabeth and Edward on friendly speaking terms? Really? How did that happen? And why the world wasn't ending?

I chuckled. Everything was so crazy at the moment!

Anyway, I got on with my plan and began running in the woods, trying to stay away from the border as much as I could. Too many bad memories there. Maybe it was because of that, that I ended up to the old Cullen mansion… or at least to what was left of it. It was painful to look at, and I was grateful Carlisle, Esme, Jasper and Emmett would never see it. I didn't hope to keep Edward from coming here, but I could try.

To everyone else, it was a mystery why Charlie set the house in fire, but not to me. Taking away everything I loved was the thing he did best. He had started with my father, and ended up with the house where I lived the happiest moment of my life.

"Well, well, well. Look at _what_ has decided to make a comeback."

I looked at my right without turning. That voice, the tone… just one person in the world talked to me like that.

"And hello to you too, big brother. People who die when dominated by anger and hate tend to remain attached to the place where they died. Guess you weren't expecting that."

Charlie vanished, just to reappear in front of me, all dark and menacing. Maybe he was trying to frighten me… but it was definitely not working.

"_Please_. I've seen scarier ghosts than you."

"You shouldn't have come back."

"Dave asked nicely. I'm looking at the troublemaker in this very moment, right? No need to keep looking."

Charlie laughed at me. "Oh, if the mighty ghost whisperer says so, it must be true!"

"Why all those men? Why now? Why the woods and First Beach?"

"It's for me to know and for you to find out. I would never spoil your fun..."

"Go to Hell."

"I don't want to. I don't want to go _anywhere_! I'm bulletproof now. I can do whatever I want. I'm a _god_."

"I will find the truth, Charlie. And once the cause of your staying behind disappears… you'll be forced to move on. Tell me everything now, or things will get ugly. _I promise_."

He laughed at my face.

"You should've stayed dead," Charlie said, and he disappeared in front of my eyes.

I hid my face in my hands. Of all things that could've happened… Really, I wasn't expecting Charlie, even if now that I thought about it, it made perfect sense. But his hate was focused on the tribe that had banned him and on his family. There was no link with the dead men, or First Beach… Maybe I was wrong, the ghosts were more than one. So, who was the other? Who had enough reasons to stay behind and cause so much pain, beside my brother?

Charlie was right, it was for him to know and for me to find out.

I just hoped no one else would end up dead in the meanwhile.


	13. Unexpected

[Bella]

"Bella, calm down."

"Calm down?" I almost shouted in my phone. "Eamonn, have you listened to a word I just said?"

"Darling, considering you just woke me up, I think I'm doing just fine."

I sighed, and sat against a tree. Eamonn was the first person I had to tell what I had just discovered. I wasn't still sure of what to do next… I could use the Professor's opinion.

"Bells, listen. Back to square one. What was the first thing you thought when your friend told you what happened?"

Lady in White. That was what I had thought. But no one had ever seen a woman resembling Julie Ateara walking around the woods. The victims seemed to be chosen at random. I told Eamonn that, and then I exposed him again my theory on Charlie. Basically, I blamed him for everything.

"From what you told me, he holds a big grudge against you, but especially against Jacob and the tribe. He would've never expected them to turn on him the way they did. Hate is a very powerful thing."

"And you think I'm dealing with both. Vengeful spirit and a Lady in White."

"Try to see if their agendas are separated. If they're not, I'm afraid you're in trouble. Big time."

"Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Bella, be careful. Tonight – 'my' tonight, just to be clear – I'll send you another mail with all I can find of cases like this. You sure you don't want me to deliver the results in person? I've never been in a Native American reservation."

"Maybe I'm wrong, but you still have an infant daughter to look after, right?"

"Infants travel free of charge."

"Don't you dare, Eamonn," I hissed. "Don't. You. Dare. Bring. Abby. Here."

"Ok, ok, don't go all mother hen on me! But if you need help, you call me. No buts."

"As you wish, Professor."

"Abby wants to say hello too, by the way," he said, and after a second I was hearing Abby making happy sounds and a little laugh. Enough to make my heart melt. I missed my little girl so much I thought my heart would break. I didn't care what Eamonn said, I would never ask him to come here and help. I ended the call closing my phone against my chest, and resumed watching what was left of what once was a beautiful house. All of sudden I felt depressed like hell. Twenty years after, I was still fighting against my father and brother. Would this never end?

The three shadows I was now used to see around me all the time moved closer to me, sort of an attempt to console me.

"Thanks for the effort, guys, but I'll need a little more than that. Still decided not to tell me who you are?"

The three shadows shook their heads.

"Fine. Just let me know when you're ready. We have all eternity to deal with this, after all."

"Talking to yourself?"

I jumped to my feet in one tenth of second and looked in the direction of the voice. My half-sister Faith was there, and she was getting closer to me. I hadn't even heard her coming, but I could see a battered truck parked nearby.

"Hi Faith. What are you doing here?"

"It depends, what are you doing here?"

"I just had a fight with Charlie, no big deal. We fight all the time."

God, what the hell was I thinking? Faith looked at me with a strange expression, like I was crazy or something. Could I blame her? I think not.

"I know you're supposed to… talk with the dead."

"Kind of weird, I know. Welcome to my world."

"And he's… he's still here?"

"And angry like hell. I thought he was the one responsible for all the things that happened here… but his hate is directed towards all the tribe, now. Not just me. It's like fuel… and someone is using it to harm the tribe."

"Sounds bad."

"It is. A friend of mine thinks there is more than one spirit involved in this, and that if their agendas are one and the same for everyone, then we're in trouble."

"Like an army of ghosts?"

The little sister was smart, I had to give her that.

"Ghosts are not supposed to form groups, except when we're talking about families. Faith… did the disappearances happen one at the time, or sometimes more men disappeared at once?"

Faith bit her lip. "I'm not sure… why?"

"Because I was thinking we were dealing with a couple of ghosts. But if the ghosts are more…"

"You said armies of ghosts don't exist."

"Unless someone forces them together. I've read of this… But I've never seen it happen."

"You mean… magic."

Her expression was so comical I could help but laugh. Nothing but a laugh to shake off bad thoughts.

"Faith, I'm a vampire. Ghosts exists. Your father is a werewolf and so is your brother. And you don't believe magic exists?"

"Come on, there have to be limits somewhere."

I shook my head. "Sorry. Magic exists."

"I'm almost afraid of asking you how much you know about magic."

How much? Well… I knew how to trace a devil's trap, I carried a bottle of holy water with me all the time – just in case – salt was good to keep spirits away, and I learned a few Latin exorcism rituals very effective during possessions. I was getting good as summoning spirits, too. And if Jasper only suspected half of that, he would probably kill me with his bare hands.

"Just a few tricks. Come on, I'll take you home. And by the way… shouldn't you be at school?"

"When your vampire sister shows up to exorcize the reservation, you're allowed to skip school, I think."

I laughed again, but then I became serious.

"Faith, why were you here?"

Faith lowered her eyes. "Don't tell Dad, ok? It's just… you lived here, Charlie died here… you are the big elephant in the room everyone pretend not to see. Maybe I was just trying to get some answers on my own."

"Did it work?"

"I don't understand how a brother can do something like that to his sister. Josh would never lay a finger on me. He's such a good guy!"

A good guy that helped Charlie manufacture my car accident, I thought, but I bit my tongue and decided not to say a word. Charlie had been a bad influence on many people, and Faith didn't need to know about her brother's mistakes. He saw the evil in Charlie and protected Faith from him, and that was enough for me.

Faith insisted on taking me back to Forks with her car, and I took advantage of the time to think about our conversation. About the 'army of ghosts', as Faith defined it. Charlie's rage was the energy the other spirits were feeding on, I knew that much. But what about the Lady in White? How many women killed themselves and their children after being betrayed by their men in the last forty years? Cause there was just one name that kept coming in my mind, and if it was really Julie we were talking about, she was probably as angry as Charlie, if not more…

Still, I needed proofs, and I had no idea of where to find them. But one thing I knew… I wouldn't find them in Forks.

"Faith, I've changed my mind. Do you mind taking me to the rez instead?"

"Not at all… why?"

"I need to speak with Sam."

***

[Edward]

A few hours after Elizabeth and I came back home, I distinctively felt Bella's presence outside the house. It was like she didn't have the courage to enter, and I didn't understand why. I checked on Elizabeth, making sure she was still sleeping peacefully, and then I went out to talk to my sister.

I wasn't prepared to see her like that. Bella was always smiling, always happy… I had never met that sad and somber creature in front of my eyes before, but I realized with a shiver that Jasper and the others did when Bella was alive. Staying here wasn't good for her, and now I could understand why Jasper so strongly opposed to Bella's decision to come back here.

I hugged my little sister, and we stayed that way for a while.

"Bella, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong… a billion things, apparently," said Bella. "Listen… I don't want to disturb Elizabeth, can we stay here and talk?"

I nodded. She was right not to disturb Elizabeth. Less than an hour after we got home she woke up screaming for a nightmare I had the misfortune of see in my head as well. Just then I understood how things between us had changed… Before this morning, she would have never allowed me to see her cry, or to get close enough to comfort her. She didn't exactly allow me the latter, but I stayed with her until she fell asleep again. Elizabeth was safer here than she was in Chicago, but this situation had to end… like with my sister, the toll she was paying was too high for her.

"Sure we can. What happened?"

[Bella]

What happened… oh well, Edward, where to start?

"It's Charlie, Edward. My brother is involved in this situation… and after talking with Sam, I think Julie Ateara might be involved too. The majority of the disappeared men betrayed their wives and girlfriends at least once in their lives… and a Lady in White is not forgiving with unfaithful men."

"Lady in White?"

"A betrayed woman that kills her child and then herself after being betrayed by the man she loves. Fits Julie's profile. She committed suicide at First Beach. But it still doesn't explain how multiple disappearances could've happened at the same time."

"What are you thinking of? An army of ghosts?"

"Funny, Faith had the same idea. But outside of family ties… I don't know, it's a rare thing and it usually involves dark magic."

Edward gave me a perplexed look, not different from the one Faith gave me earlier that day.

"Magic?"

"Yes, Edward, magic. We exist … why shouldn't magic exist too?"

"This world can't get any weirder…"

I laughed. "I hope it won't. I really hope it won't."

I was still laughing when I took my ringing phone out of my pocket and answered the call. It was my half-sister, calling from the reservation in tears.

Jacob had just vanished in the woods.


	14. Vengeance

**[Elizabeth]**

When I woke up, my heart was racing and I felt scared. But I didn't dream of Gabriel… I dreamt something else. I was in a forest, and I was running. I didn't know from what or who I was escaping, but it didn't have to catch me. But when it did…

I shivered, chasing away the horrible image of me dropping dead in the grass, and got up. I knew I should've stayed in bed, but after that weird nightmare I didn't want to fall asleep again. Maybe I could watch some TV or read something. Anything but sleep.

I was slowly walking in the corridor towards the stairs when I heard Bella sobbing, or at least trying to. She always told me the thing she missed most was the ability to cry and express her feelings… I would be happy to stop crying at all though, but I wasn't Bella.

Edward saw me at the top of the stairs, and I was certain he already knew what I was going to ask.

"Bella's father… he disappeared in the woods. Like the other men."

I slowly walked down the stair, and wrapped my arms around Bella's back.

"I'm so sorry…"

I could see the back of Bella's head nodding slightly, and after hugging her some more I let her go. I looked at Edward, and before I could form the thought he filled me in about what had really happened at the reservation. Enough to make my skin crawl.

"I shouldn't even feel like this!" exclaimed Bella, almost screaming in rage. "He made my life hell! I hate him!"

"He's still your father, Bella. A part of you will always feel connected to him."

"We need to find him. There is not much time left before…"

Edward and I nodded, then Edward gave me a strange look. I frowned, and asked him what was wrong.

"Elizabeth… what happened earlier… do you think you can make it happen again?"

Bella gave us a curious look, but we both ignored her. The vision thing… I had no idea if it could work. But if he worked…

"I need my tarots," I said to Edward, and in a second he was back in front of me with my cards in his hands.

"The cards? What do you need them for?" asked Bella.

"In a second, ok? Edward, help me to get to the couch."

Edward helped me walk to the couch and helped me sit. He then sat next to me and gave me the tarots.

"When you were at the reservation I… read the tarots. And it happened something… visions, I think. Edward saw them too, in his head."

Bella was smart, and it didn't take long for her to do the math.

"So you think that if you try to find my father with your tarots, you can see where he is?"

I shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know…"

Bella sat in front of me.

"Try. Please."

I nodded, and after a deep breath I started mixing the cards. I concentrate on Jacob Black, on the few things I knew of him, and asked my tarots to tell me what happened to him. Exactly like the other time, I started seeing different flashes with every card I put on the table. Jacob was in the woods, and looked… sad? Then he morphed into a wolf and ran away. Another vision showed me Jacob once again in his human form, looking at something with a confused, scared look. What the hell was he looking at? I concentrated harder, trying to force the vision to show me something more, but all I got was a searing pain that made me scream and clutch the head.

"Elizabeth!" screamed Bella, and in a second I found both Bella and Edward at my sides, looking at me with worried eyes. I wanted to tell them I was fine, but it would be a lie. What the hell was that? And then I heard it, a voice so cold and menacing it gave me shivers.

_Stop looking, or next time I won't be so nice._

I instinctively looked at Edward – funny how it was so normal for me now, after months spent hating him – and the look he gave me back was better than words. He saw everything, and most important thing of all… he heard that female voice too. Bella kept looking at us, trying to understand what was going on… and I decided to tell her. Minus the menace thing, and Edward gave me a barely noticeable nod in agreement.

"I don't know what happened exactly, Bella… it was like I wasn't supposed to look there."

"Ghosts cannot interfere with clairvoyance… or whatever this thing is. I don't think I ever saw it before."

"That makes two of us, then. What do you think, Bella?"

"That if there is really someone holding all the ghosts together, then it's in his or her best interests that you don't see much of what happened."

"Well, that someone doesn't know me at all," I said, jumping on my feet. "Let's go where I saw your father disappear, and then I'll try and read my tarots again. Maybe I will see things more clearly there."

"It's possible," said Bella, getting up as well. "Listen, I'm going to phone Dave and hear if they got news on my father. We leave in ten minutes, ok?"

I nodded, and once alone Edward moved in front of me.

"Are you out of your mind?" he hissed, half angry, half scared. "Did you hear that voice or not?"

"I survived _Gabriel_, Edward. Do you think there is much more left in this world that can scare me?"

"You heard Bella? We're dealing with magic… and powerful dark magic, according to my sister. And you want to go there and act like it was nothing to worry about?"

"I want to do it, Edward, and I will. We don't have much time left."

We stopped talking when Bella came back. She looked a bit miffed because she didn't find Dave and Grace told her he was in the woods running patrol, or so she said. I think she just wanted to hear his voice and know he was safe, but I didn't say a word. If this Julie was out for revenge, sooner or later she would come for him. Saving Jacob for Bella equaled to save Dave … and I wanted to be a part of it. I couldn't save my best friend from Gabriel, but I'd be damned if I didn't do anything in my power to save him and Jacob.

**[Edward]**

Stubborn, pig-headed human girl… would she never think of her safety before acting? I wanted to remind her why we came to Forks in the first place, but since it wouldn't sort any effect I kept my mouth shut. Plus, I saw in her head her reasons why she was so dead set in helping Bella. She was feeling guilty about Mick's death… and she would be for a long time.

The place Elizabeth saw in her vision was near the treaty line, but when I described it to Bella she flinched and took a grim expression. A second later I saw in my head that it was the place where the werewolves almost killed her when she was still human, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Bella, you're not obliged to come with us."

"Thanks, big brother, but no. If a ghost shows up, I might learn something useful… you can't see them coming, I can."

I sighed. Bella could be as stubborn as Elizabeth when she wanted. She preceded us outside the house, and after deciding I would be the one to carry Elizabeth during the run in the woods, she disappeared in the trees. I was almost thankful of that… this way Bella wouldn't have to ask questions about the slight embarrassment on our faces. I couldn't wait for this day to be over…

"Ok," said Elizabeth, always the pragmatic one. "You can carry me on the back, I think I can resist until we reach that place."

"You sure?"

"Do I have another choice? Come on," she said, motioning me to come closer. I bent a little so she could wrap her arms around my neck, and I didn't miss her sharp intake of breath when she did the same with her legs.

"Make it quick," she whispered against my neck, and I slightly nodded.

"Keep your eyes closed, Elizabeth. It will be over in a second."

I ran through the trees as fast as I could to keep my promise to her. Elizabeth kept thinking of her last vision, trying to focus on the details she could remember, but her memories were very blurry; she couldn't find anything useful in there, and neither could I. The only way was to let her read the tarots again…

"It's going to work," she whispered again. "No need to be so tense."

I slowed down, now that I could recognize the area, and replied to Elizabeth that after hearing a scary female threatening me in my mind I felt every right in the world to be tense.

"She threatened me, not you. And I don't care. I'm not scared."

"You should be."

"I have broad shoulders. Are we there yet?"

"Almost," I said. I could see Bella from where I was, and she had that sad, unhappy expression I saw in her eyes when she came home earlier. She was remembering that night again, and I could see what happened like I had been there with her and my family. Poor Bella, she didn't deserve any of what they put her through… and yet there she was, trying to solve the reservation's problems. Maybe Rosalie was right, after all. Maybe she should've never come back here.

Elizabeth moved against my back, in a clear attempt to make me know she wanted to get down on her feet, and I bent a little to help her. She immediately walked to Bella, sensing her discomfort, but from where I was standing I could see Bella was once again playing the I'm-fine-don't-worry-for-me card. Elizabeth on any other day would've never let her go away with that, but she knew it wasn't the right moment nor the right place to have that conversation. She took out her tarots from a pocket of her jacket, and sat on the grass with a little help from Bella.

**[Elizabeth]**

I took a deep breath and held the cards tightly in my hands, trying to calm down. Before I had a chance to change my mind, I started mixing the tarots and displayed it in front of me on the grass. Bella and Edward kneeled at my side to look at the cards, Edward closer to me than Bella. Clearly he wanted to see inside of my head without interferences, or so I thought before feeling his hand on my back for a second. I met his eyes, and I quickly lowered mine on the cards I had to turn. I didn't want to see that worry in Edward's eyes.

Another deep breath, and I turned the first card. I didn't even saw which card was, the vision hit me with incredible force and all of sudden I wasn't there anymore. I was with Jacob and Bella, a silent witness to the conversation they had earlier that day. I knew she had a lot of issues with Jacob and the other werewolves, but hearing the pain in her voice made my heart ache for my friend. After Bella left, Jacob stayed in the forest for a while, looking at the void in front of him. Then he phased and ran away from there in wolf form until he arrived where we were. He didn't talk, but he kneeled in the place I thought Bella almost died. He touched a bunch of stones on the ground and looked almost on the verge of tears…

"Elizabeth, what's wrong? What have you seen?" asked Bella. I could feel her hand on my arm, but I couldn't bring myself to talk. What I was seeing… that I couldn't tell her, and I hoped Edward wouldn't either. Ever.

Bella, Edward's Bella – she looked too much like 'my' Bella, I couldn't be mistaken – was there with Jacob, I could see shadows around her – more ghosts, probably – but she was the only one you could recognize. Bella was angry at Jacob, her cheating spouse… and looking closely at Jacob, he didn't seem in his right mind anymore. His eyes were void, like he was under some kind of influence, and when the ghosts disappeared in the woods, he followed the direction Bella's ghost vanished.

Edward found my hand, and held it tightly. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath, and when I opened them I was once again with Bella and Edward. I glanced at Edward, who shook his head in an imperceptible way. I didn't like lying to my friends… but how could I tell that to Bella?

"Jacob saw the ghosts. And… he followed them in the woods."

"But why? He knew he shouldn't have done that!"

"He was under some kind of influence… he didn't look like himself. I really don't know what happened."

"The someone keeping the ghosts together must really be a powerful witch, to cast a spell without even being in close proximity of her victim… Nice. Like we needed more problems. Can you tell me something more on the ghosts?"

"No, I'm sorry," I said, and I silently cursed. I hoped this situation could be solved without telling Bella the truth, but I knew that sooner or later I would have to tell her.

"We'll cross that bridge when the moment comes," whispered Edward to my ear, so low I barely heard his words. I slightly nodded, but I still felt guilty.

Bella was still waiting to receive the intel Eamonn had promised to send her, but she told us she wanted to go back to the reservation to check on Dave and Grace first. Edward took me back to Bella's house, running even faster than earlier, and I had to hold on for dear life even if my sore body would've appreciated not to be stretched that way. But I thought Edward just wanted to put as much distance as he could between me and that place. He took that menace more seriously than me, that was clear as the sun. I didn't know why I wasn't scared. Mom and Granma always believed magic existed in one form or another, but they also believed that sometimes there were things you just have to do, no matter the consequences. It was a gamble, what I was doing, but I was also sure I could win this one.

And there was also the problem represented by older, dead Bella…

"I can't believe that Bella really did this. She doesn't have it in her," said Edward, once we were back inside the house.

"And you know this, because…?"

"Because when Bella found me in Volterra – it's a long story, and maybe I'll tell you one day – her mother was already there. Bella told me her mother asked Alice, my late sister and Jasper's first wife, to look after her so she could stay with me, even if I couldn't see her. And I… I made her suffer so much, when I abandoned her, she could've exacted her vengeance on me and I wouldn't raise a finger to defend myself. Does it seem likely to you that this woman could be the same one you saw in your vision?"

"You saw the same thing, Edward," I replied, sitting on the couch. "And you and Jacob had different experiences with Bella. He betrayed her and conceived a child with another woman, for God's sake. I would be pissed too."

"So much you would come back from death to kill him?"

I sighed. "Probably not."

"Bella told you everything, I see," commented Edward, sitting next to me.

"I told her some stories, too. Bella knows how to listen to people."

"Her gift and her curse."

"Ok. But if she's not your Bella who the hell is she? Can ghosts change their semblances?"

"Not the resident expert on supernatural creatures, I'm afraid."

"Right. Well… I'm going upstairs. Too much emotion for one day and I'm supposed to be recovering, right?" I said, getting up from the couch and slowly walking to the stairs. I refused Edward's help, and I slowly began to climb the stairs, when suddenly breathing became incredibly difficult. And my heart was racing like when I discovered Granma was dead and I had that heart attack. I almost fell down the stairs, but I managed to clutch the banister.

I screamed Edward's name, but I lost the little balance I had and I fell backward.

I hit my head on the steps… and then nothing.

Just that voice in my head again, and five words that made me shiver before I lost consciousness.

_You brought this on you._

**[Edward]**

I jumped on my feet as soon as I felt Elizabeth screaming my name, and I caught her before the fall could do more damage.

"Elizabeth, what happened? What's wrong? Talk to me!"

Then, I heard that voice in my head. I looked at Elizabeth, but I could do nothing to help her.

Nothing, except listen to her heart stop a second later, and watch Elizabeth die in my arms.


	15. Chained

[Bella]

Dave was still alive and well when I arrived at the reservation, and even if he should've been more worried than me – his dead girlfriend was out to kill him, after all – he had the courage to laugh at my face. Or at least that what was going to do before I shot him a really scary death glare.

"Jesus, Bells! You worry too much. It's barely a day you're here and you've already given us a lot of answers. Do you remember we had no idea of what was hunting us until today?"

"My father knew better than follow a ghost in the forest, but he did it anyway. It could be something you're compelled to do, even against your will, so I wouldn't be so cheerful if I were you!"

"How do you know this?"

Right, Bella, how do you know this? I mentally slapped myself.

"There might be another person with me…" I said. "Two, actually."

"Vampires or humans?"

"Both. I'm helping a human friend and my brother came with me."

"So you, Emmett and a friend of yours are here. What's the problem? It's not like we never saw a Cullen before."

"Dave, it's not Emmett. It's Edward. He's…"

"E-Edward? Your mom's Edward?"

Not many things caused me to stare at someone open-mouthed these days… but this one did.

"I never mentioned Edward to you. I was already a vampire when I met him!"

"When we are in wolf form… we share thoughts. And Jacob… well, he still thinks of your mother sometimes. That makes Leah go ballistic all the time. And sometimes, when he thinks of Bella…"

"He thinks of Edward, too. Damn it."

"'_Think'_might not be the right word._'Hate'_, on the other hand… Bells, if he's here, it's better Jacob doesn't find out."

"Not exactly a problem, right now."

"And your friend?"

"It's the one that phoned me earlier."

"Liz, right?"

"Liz has some problems, I'm helping her sorting things out. She has a gift… she can see things when she reads tarots. Elizabeth saw my father disappearing near the treaty line."

"She saw Julie there?"

"She didn't see it clearly… and I don't know what to think. Jacob would've never followed Julie in the woods. Charlie, maybe. Today Jacob asked for my forgiveness..."

"It's not Jacob the one that should apologize to Charlie, but the other way around."

"I don't know. I really don't know. Listen, do you mind if I check my email? I'm waiting for a friend to send me some information on cases like these._If_anything like this has ever happened before. Ghosts, magic and god knows what else…"

"Sure. Take my laptop. Grace? Have you seen it?"

Grace's head emerged from the kitchen. "Try in the bedroom, love. Hi, Bella."

Grace was doing her best to sound like her usual self, but I knew how worried she was. Guilty, even. She felt like that for years, for stealing her best friend's boyfriend and her tragic death. And now Julie was back, and ready to take everything back. The other unfaithful men were just foreplay, a twisted display of justice. There was a reason why Dave was still alive and well, and that was she wanted him to know exactly what was coming for him. She didn't expect that I would interfere with her plan, though. By now, I was sure she already knew I was there, and the witch as well. Not that I'm that famous or anything, but Whisperers – so we're called – are rare, and people talk.

I really wanted to console Grace, but I honestly didn't know what to say, and we never were that close to begin with. She never joined the 'We hate Bella Black' club, though, and she made Dave happier than I had ever seen him. Maybe if we survived this thing we could become good friends.

Dave came back from the bedroom with his computer, and two seconds later I was already logged into my email account and checking my messages. Eamonn, efficient as always, had sent me not one email but three. One was a long update on Abby, with many pictures of my sweet, little baby (he must've thought I was missing Abby madly) I immediately and proudly showed Dave and Grace. The other two were all business, and the gist of both was that cases like mine were very rare and very keen to end up badly. I already suspected Dark magic was involved, but according to my friend and his sources, the spell could only be cast by someone trained in the Dark Arts. So, no amateur. Great. I was going to go outside and kill myself, when at the bottom of the third email Eamonn told me he found a spell that might keep Dave safe from the ghosts. He wasn't a witch and his interest for magic was purely academic, so he couldn't be certain of the result, but it was better than nothing and he knew I'd already successfully cast a couple spells in the past. There was also a list of the things required for the spell, and I was relieved to see it was nothing I couldn't find in the house.

My newfound good mood was promptly ruined by Eamonn's post-scriptum.

_PS: Bella, I know it's been years and I don't have any proof, but… Couldn't Elissa be responsible of this?_

I honestly had no idea. And I hoped it was just Eamonn being paranoid. It had been 20 years, after all, and I couldn't believe for a second it would take so long to a Volturi sorceress to find me and plan revenge. And unfortunately, in my world there were plenty of evil people versed in the Dark arts. But Eamonn's suggestion made me think. I always assumed the ghosts were the only one with a grudge against the reservation… but someone didn't go through all that for a bunch of ghosts just out of kindness of heart. The witch had a grudge against the reservation too. A grudge big enough to work as an anchor for the ghosts, to give them the opportunity to get their revenge. But still, I had no idea of who could be behind this.

I was so concentrated that Dave had to tell me my phone already rang twice. I sighed, and answered the call.

"Edward, hi. Why are you calling me, something's wrong?"

I almost let the phone fall from my hand when Edward told me what happened. I shivered, and slowly sat back on my chair. I was… I didn't even know what to feel. Shocked, probably. Distraught. Angry. And most of all, guilty. I took Elizabeth here to protect her… and I couldn't.

"Was it… Was it her heart?" I whispered when I found the strength to speak again.

"I don't know. Maybe. There was nothing I could do, everything happened so fast…"

My brother sounded devastated. Again, I wondered what I didn't know about Edward and Elizabeth, why all of sudden they got from hate to a mutual understanding of each other.

Pity I would've never had the chance to ask Liz. She would've laughed at my face, probably, and told me I was seeing things because Edward and she would've never been friends…

"I'm coming straight home, Edward. Hold on. Please," I said, ending the call.

"Bella?"

"Elizabeth… my friend… she died a few moments ago."

"Go home, Bells. We can do it tomorrow."

"No way," I said. "We're doing it now."

"But you just said…"

"I know what I said! She's not alive anymore, but you are. And I want to keep things this way, cause I couldn't bear to lose someone else!"

It came out harsher and colder than anticipated, but I didn't care. I would've saved his life. Liz was dead, my father was going to die. I wouldn't add my best friend to this list!

Luckily for me, the spell was also easy to cast. Once I rounded all the things I needed – rock salt, a personal object and a few drops of Dave's blood – in a bowl, I just had to mutter some words in Gaelic (more than some, actually, I had to chant for more than an hour) and then put everything in a small fabric bag Dave had to wear all the time. Before I gave it to him, though, he must know what this spell really did.

"Dave, Grace, listen carefully now. Here how this thing works: once you wear this, you will be completely invisible to ghosts and people who can see them. This includes me. The text is not clear whether or not this spell will hide you from humans and supernatural creatures as well, but if it does… well, no one will be able to find you or do anything to you, while you will still be able to see everyone."

"And the ghosts? Will I see them?"

"I can't tell for sure, but I think it's possible. You're going to be something in between, so it wouldn't surprise me. Have you understood everything I said?"

Dave nodded, and after a second Grace did too.

"Thanks, Bella," said Grace. "You're our savior."

"Thank Eamonn and his mad research skills," I said, trying to smile, but what came out was just a sad grimace. I couldn't stay there any longer, not if I wanted to keep a little dignity. I just wanted to scream, and cry, and mourn my friend. I couldn't keep a straight face any longer, and Dave, that knew all my faces from food intoxication to nervous breakdown, recognized the symptoms and hugged me.

"I'm sorry for your friend," he whispered, and I tried not to start sobbing against his shoulder. I just nodded with my head, and enjoyed the closeness and his warmth. How could that be possible? She was fine! The doctors said her heart was fine and she didn't do anything to jeopardize her condition! And why wasn't her ghost here with me? I couldn't find a reason, thus I refused to accept it. Death can seem random, but after years spent looking after ghosts I realized there was always some kind of hidden logic in it. Call it a professional hazard, if you like. I couldn't see logic in that… and I had to run home to Edward in order to find it.

"Go home, Bells. We'll be fine. I'm safe now, thanks to you and your friend. Go to her."

I nodded again, and kissed Dave on his cheek.

"Thanks. See you."

"Don't think so," he said with a smirk. Right, the spell. I told Dave and Grace goodbye, and I ran through the forest as fast as I could. When I got home, I didn't hear any sound coming from inside, and I instantly got worried. Did something happen to Edward too?

When I got inside, I realized that yes, something had indeed happened to Edward. He was sitting on the floor by the stairs, holding Elizabeth in his arms. He was looking at the void with a sad, blank expression. I felt my heart break in that instant.

[Edward]

I didn't move a muscle after Elizabeth stopped breathing. I couldn't bring myself to. I kept holding her in my arms, looking at her face from time to time. She looked asleep, like she would wake up any moment…

In a corner of my mind I knew I should've taken her to her room, but that would've meant accepting that she was…

I felt Bella's hand on my shoulder. I didn't turn to look at her.

"I couldn't do anything."

"I know. It's not your fault."

"I should've protected her."

"You can't protect someone from fate. Still, it's so… unfair. Wrong. Bit rich coming from a Whisperer, huh?" she said with a sad smile, kneeling next to me to move a streak of hair from Elizabeth's face.

"Edward, we should take her upstairs. I can do it if you…"

"I'll do it," I whispered, finally finding the strength to get up, with Elizabeth in my arms. I couldn't help but think of the first time I held her like that. She was still able to fight with me, even if she was severely wounded and in pain. Not even that could tame her spirit.

I instinctively held her closer while I climbed the stairs, and I pushed those thoughts out of my head. It was too sad a thought. I felt like I was carrying a doll broken beyond repair, and it was something that hurt me inside in ways I would've never imagined.

Without a word, Bella opened the door of her former room for me, and I walked inside. I gently laid down Elizabeth on the bed, and I sat next to her. Bella came closer, and put her hand on Elizabeth's arm.

"We have to tell Carlisle and the others," I said.

Bella nodded, moving her hand so that she could hold Elizabeth's in hers. I saw her frowning slightly, and she began looking attentively at Elizabeth's arms and elbows.

"Bella… what are you doing?"

"Edward, can you tell me what time it is?"

I looked at my sister with a confused expression, but I answered her question.

"It's almost eight."

"It took me one hour and half to cast the spell, and I began after you called me," she said in a weird voice. "One hour and half is enough time for a cadaver to start showing signs of death. Rigidity in the articulations, blood settling in the lower part of the body, change of temperature, discoloration of the skin…"

"Bella, what are you saying?"

She shook her head, shocked. I never saw my sister like that.

"It can't be… It's impossible…"

"Bella, talk to me. What is impossible?"

She turned to look straight at my face.

"_Everything_! Edward… she doesn't show any of those signs!"

"Maybe it's too early…"

"You can't cheat with Death. It's the only thing we all share, the tie that binds us all. It's the same for everyone, Edward, and I've seen plenty of dead bodies in the last twenty years, so I know what I'm saying!"

"But I saw her die."

"I'm not saying it didn't happen. But there has to be more to this. This body might look dead, but it's not. Not yet, anyway. Something is preventing it from dying."

I couldn't believe my sister's words. I didn't dare to hope that was the truth. But I also never saw my sister so upset, and she was the one used to walk the thin line between life and death.

I couldn't keep my secret any longer.

"Bella… there's something you need to know."

"What, exactly?"

"We thought… Elizabeth and I… it was better not to tell you. And then she decided to keep going, even if someone, a woman, threatened in her own mind. Twice."

"What you didn't want to tell me? Edward, for God's sake, speak!"

"We both saw your mother in the woods. She was the ghost that took your father away."

"No."

"Bella."

"I said no!" she said, shaking her head. "It can't be. Not my mother. She crossed over. I was there."

"She said she would come back. Maybe she really did."

"No, no, no! It's all wrong! You don't come back the way you left, Edward!"

"I thought you never saw it happen."

"Doesn't mean it didn't happen. Magic. You can do everything with it… but you have to deal with the consequences of your actions. Bring someone back, and you'll condemn that poor soul to live a half-life forever. And souls just don't come back like that, on their own. Mom couldn't know that."

"Elizabeth thought… well, that a woman scorned could even come back from there to get her revenge."

"But my mother already confronted my father on this! I was there. I heard her. She didn't have other unfinished business here. I'm telling you, whoever, whatever that thing is, one thing's for sure: it's not my mother. I have no doubt."

"So you're really sure?"

"You read minds, I deal with the underworld, that's my thing."

Bella stayed silent for a while, but I knew she wasn't finished yet.

"And you should all stop with this absurd idea I need protection! You have no idea of what I've dealt with since everything started! Black magic! Half demons! Elissa! Name it! I've learned how to defend myself the hard way, and don't believe for one second I will ever be to scared or fragile to do it! So next time something weird happens, Edward, in the name of all that is sacred, tell me! Preferably before someone ends up dead!"

How could I reply to that? She was right. She wasn't a helpless creature, and only now I finally started to see it. And like she said… I was the sole responsible of Elizabeth's death. I should've done more, obliged her to tell Bella about the voice… I sat on the bed again, and hid my face in my hands. My fault…

"Edward…" said Bella. "Oh God, I'm sorry, I can't believe I've said… words just came out of my mind! I didn't mean to accuse you or …"

"But you told the truth. And now I'll never have the chance to tell her how sorry I am."

Bella kneeled in front of me, and forced me to raise the head and look at her in the eyes.

"Edward, I know how this might sound crazy, but this body defying all the basic rules of death… Elizabeth's ghost nowhere to be found… I can see death's inner logic even when it seems there's no logic at all, and believe me… there's no logic here. It's all artificial."

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said… if the body is not dying, then the soul is not free to wander. But if the soul is not here, it means that someone is keeping it away. Eamonn told me that whoever is doing this is no amateur and it's an expert in this field. More expert than me. I never dealt with Black magic or Necromancy, I never wanted to. It's dangerous and scary like hell… but this witch clearly doesn't have any problem with it."

"Maybe you should call your friend. He could come…"

"Eamonn's an academic. And he has a daughter. No way in hell I'm dragging him into this. But until he stays in Ireland, he can give me all the help he wants," she said, getting up. Bella started dialing his number on her way out of the room, and I could hear her talking to Eamonn about Elizabeth. From what I could gather, she was almost certain Elizabeth was still alive, her soul trapped somewhere.

But where?

[Elizabeth]

O-kay. I thought there was nothing left in this world to scare me, but clearly I was mistaken. And petrified in fear. Or at least I would be if I still had a body… which I didn't.

I had some heavy chains on my wrists and around my body, though. How can it even be possible to chain a ghost? Because of that I was sure, I was a ghost. I remembered the accident on the stairs. The heart attack, or whatever that was. Edward holding me up to the very last moment. Everything went black… And then I appeared there, covered in thin, silvery chains that prevented me to move.

Where the hell was I? It looked like a cabin. A normal, ordinary cabin, with old furniture and hundreds of books everywhere. On the table, inside a basket, there were many crystal globes and some pictures. I would've loved to get closer, but the chains were too heavy for me to move. I could just stand still and watch what was around me…

"Well, at last we meet," said a girl, appeared out of nowhere along with a twenty-something boy. Both Quileutes, judging by their appearances. And both were looking at me with an annoying smug smile.

"Let me guess. Julie Ateara and Charlie Black."

"Bella clearly did her homework," said Julie. "And here I was guessing she would just go after my friend here."

"You did the only thing you shouldn't have done. Bella and I will bury you. Again."

"Funny, darling… you talking about burials. That's exactly what's going to happen to you. You should've minded your own business… what's your name?"

"Go to hell."

"In a century or two, you'll wish she had sent you there. You made her angry… challenge her like that, after she warned you… You asked for it."

"Who is she? What the hell does she want from Bella and the Quileutes?"

"Justice," said a voice Elizabeth knew very well. It was the last sound she heard before dying. Elizabeth could see it belonged to a woman around in her sixties, with dark skin and gray hair. She emerged from a door hidden by some tapestry decorated with runes. Magical signs were all over it… I wondered what was in that room that needed such protection. The woman walked until she was exactly in front of me, and even if I was scared to death I didn't give her the satisfaction of showing fear or lowering my eyes. Proud even in the afterlife, that was me.

"My incorporeal friends tell me your name is Elizabeth. Tell me, Elizabeth…was it worth it? You didn't stop me. Quite the opposite… and now your soul is mine. Mine to do whatever I please with it."

"Bella will find you. And when that moment comes… well, may God help you."

The woman laughed, clearly amused by my words. "God? I don't care about God! He took away my husband, my daughter, my life! But now I have the chance to make them all learn what's like to lose the people you love without being able to do a thing to save them… And they will all learn. Especially Dave and that little whore he chose over my daughter!"

Daughter? I couldn't help but look at Julie, and then back at the older woman. So that had to be Claire Ateara… Bella told me a few things about her, but I would've never imagined she would be capable of that. How could a Quileute housewife become… whatever she was now?

"Your friend will learn her lesson too," she said with an evil smile, "when she finds her father on First Beach."

"Bella did nothing to you!" I screamed, trying to fight against my restraints.

"Not to me, no… but our little princess here is too much of a wild card. She needs to learn her place… and I'll make sure of that."

I had no idea of what she was talking about, but one thing I knew. Bella was alone, with no idea of who her enemy really was and that she was one of the targets like her friend Dave, if not even more so.

And I was stuck there, chained up like an animal.

I never felt more enraged and helpless in my entire life.


	16. Shadow

[Dave]

The small sachet Bella left me was on the table, and I was still staring at it and wondering how that little thing could actually work. I bashed myself shortly after. It was _my_ Bella I was doubting, my best friend and a Whisperer, no less… but every time I was going to take it, I was assaulted by more doubts. I didn't even notice it was clear outside, but when I did I had to watch the clock on the wall twice to actually believe it. But since I wasn't that convinced yet and that clock – some heirloom my father insisted on giving me – was so ugly I started hoping it would break the moment I hung it at that wall, maybe I just got lucky… it was worth checking.

"Grace, honey? What time is it? For real? That clock must be broken."

"It's time for you to get up from that couch and stop staring at the void. And about the clock… that hideous thing still works."

I gave a look to that beautiful, sarcastic creature that also happened to be my wife, and for a second I wondered why in the hell I married her.

"Sorry, I feel a _little_ pressured up at the moment."

"Bella gave you a way out of this. Twelve hours ago. Try that damn talisman and see what happens!"

"You heard her, she wasn't sure of what could happen!"

Grace sighed and sat next to me, taking my hand in hers. She still looked like she had just turned 20, more or less like me, but her eyes revealed her real age. No twenty-year-old could have that look. When we both were younger and completely under the imprinting influence I couldn't help but find her beautiful and desirable, no matter what she did or looked like. After a few years – well, decades – of married life I could tell for sure… and this was the scary part… that it wasn't the imprinting that make me feel that way for her. Not just that, anyway. Julie had been my first girlfriend, my first lover, my first everything. And Grace was always there too, with her quiet presence and her sense of humor. When Bella went away, I grew closer to her… she was one of the few that voted against Bella's kidnapping, standing up against her beloved father. I didn't know how she knew about us werewolves, Sam would have never broken the vow of secrecy for her, but in that moment… it was probably in that moment I fell in love with her. Imprinting followed a few months later, when Grace phased just after her birthday. Everyone thought I betrayed my soon-to-be wife because of that… wrong motivation, wrong time.

"Since when don't you trust Bella Black?"

"_Cullen_. She hates to hear that surname. And I trust her, I do. But…"

"You're scared to see her again."

The unfaithful fiancé and the treacherous best friend, that was what we were called back in the day. Julie had always been the big elephant in the room during all our marriage. Hell, even at our wedding. And now that I knew for a fact that Julie had been here all the time I wondered how much was our imagination and how much was real.

"Of course I am. Look at what she did to those poor men. She might not be solely responsible, but you can see her hand behind this. She always said she would've killed me if I betrayed her."

"Well, she's always been a woman of her word. But you have a way to save yourself now."

"Hiding," I reminded her.

"Isn't a little too late for your male pride to show up?" said Grace, obliging me to look at her. "Dave, listen. You need to do this. Call me selfish, but I'd like to get old one day, with you."

I already heard something like that before. Every girlfriend, fiancée and wife of a La Push werewolf said it at least once in their lives, before the men they loved would phase and disappear in the woods. You could never know what could hide there now. When the Cullens lived here, the number of nomadic vampires crossing our land was close to zero. Now there was always someone that tried to pass the treaty line, as we still call that place in the forest, and most of times they weren't friendly at all. That was what I was ready to fight. But an enemy no one but Bella could see… not so much.

I took a deep breath. "Well, here goes nothing…" I said, and before I could change my mind, I took Bella's talisman and wore it around my neck. I was ready to feel anything, to anything to happen…

Nothing.

Nothing happened.

I was still on the couch, with Grace holding my hand, and she was looking straight at me.

I sighed again. "Seems like Bella has to take her Witchcraft class again. Well, it was worth trying…"

I frowned. And observed my wife more attentively. Grace wasn't looking at me. She looked more like she was looking through me… and she probably was.

"D-Dave?" she whispered. "Dave, are you still here?"

I held her hand tighter, and Grace visibly relaxed.

"Oh thank God, I was so scared! One second you were there and the second after… are you alright? Can you talk?"

"Do you hear me? Grace?"

"Dave? Are you still here?"

I sighed. Clearly she couldn't hear me, but she could feel me. I clutched her hand again, and Grace slowly nodded.

"Ok. One for yes, two for no. Are you fine?"

With that system, my clever wife also made me promise to stay inside the house and not to go wander for the reservation. I was invisible, but not intangible. I could still get hurt, and it was better not to raise suspicions.

Of course, the next thing I did was to get out of the house the moment Grace left my hand. She would probably kill me once this was over, but the last thing I wanted was to stay home sitting on my thumbs.

But once I got outside… Well, to say I wasn't prepared to this is an understatement. I could seeeverything. All the living creatures, and the ones that weren't alive any longer. Some of them were old, others were faces I knew. I couldn't believe my eyes… I never imagined there were so many ghosts in the reservation. Sure, Bella explained me last night all the reasons why a ghost would stay in the land of living, but to think of something was not exactly like seeing it in front of your eyes.

Like Bella, I couldn't help but think. That was what my friend had seen all the time for the past 20 years. Again, I felt my respect for her grow. She was a good person that decided to devote her entire existence to help people… and it's not something anyone can do. Not for eternity, at least.

Now that I knew human and werewolves couldn't see me (that, or it was the 'Ignore Dave Call' Day), I decided to make another test and go to Bella's. I also wanted to see how she was coping with her friend's death. The moment Bella came back the situation changed… Jacob disappearing, Charlie, Bella's friend sudden death. It was like someone was trying to get back at the reservation, yes, but hurting Bella at the same time. But no one knew she was coming, except me…

Whatever. I started to run in the forest and I phased before I could even realize. Habit. I had been a werewolf for half of my life, and that way I could get there faster. Again, no one saw me. I was actually starting to find the situation fun. Where the hell was this thing when I was in high school and there were all those cheerleaders…

Ahem.

I was one of the fastest runners in the pack; reaching the Swan residence was really easy. I took again my human form when I was still in the forest, and for once I didn't have to worry about what I was wearing – or not wearing. But there was just one thing to do to be certain, and I stepped inside the house.

Bella was sitting on the couch, and looked like a perfect, polished marble statue. She was perfectly still, she wasn't even blinking. Bella just sat there, staring at the void, with the saddest expression I ever saw on her face – and I had seen many.

"Bells?"

Nothing.

"Isabella?"

No reaction.

"Isabella Marie Black?"

When she didn't flinch at the sound of her old surname I was certain she couldn't see or hear me. While I stood relieved – I didn't want my best friend to know methatgood- , I also felt a little scared. Bella was the only one that really knew what was going on. Not being able to talk to her wasn't exactly a good thing…

Then Bella slightly frowned and started again to look like a human being, scanning the room like she expected to see something.

"Is there someone here?"

_Thank God, for giving her all those psychic abilities!_

Now, I had to make her aware of my presence… but Bella, once again, was quicker than me.

"Dave?"

I moved closer and touched her shoulder. She turned her head to look at me, and touched my hand with hers. She sighed, visibly relieved.

"At least one thing went according to plan."

But I couldn't go on like this, I needed another way of communication… I had eyed pencils and a notebook near the phone in the entrance, it was worth a try.

[Bella]

Finally. Finally some good news. As soon as that situation was over, I had to make sure to call Eamonn and thank him for, like, hours. I couldn't dream of a better help.

Dave touched my shoulder again, then he removed the hand and for a few minutes I had no idea of where he was. I could feel a presence, yes, but nothing too precise… like the shadows at the corner of my eyes when I was still alive and my ability hadn't kicked in yet. Then I saw a pencil and a notebook floating in the air, and coming in my direction.

"What do you want to know, Dave?"

The pencil began to move quickly on the paper, and an instant later Dave turned it so I could see.

_How did you know it was me?_

"Who else could it be? I see pretty much everything… you were the only thing I wasn't sure I could. Guess I am, now."

More writing.

_Sorry for your friend. Where is she?_

"Upstairs. Edward is still with her… he feels responsible. As I do."

_Stop it right now. You can't foresee anything!_

"Doesn't help, but thanks anyway…"

I wanted to tell him what was really going on with Elizabeth, but if I opened my mouth he would've felt compelled to do something. I knew that. So when he scribbled something about me not telling him something, with three question marks and underlined three times…

"My friend is not dead. Not really… But it's just a matter of time."

_What? Bella, I don't understand._

"Go upstairs, and take a good look at her. You'll understand."

[Dave]

I frowned. What was Bella trying to say?

For a second I thought about asking her, but then I just decided to do as I was told, and I went upstairs. The door was already open, and I just stepped inside. I didn't know if Edward could sense me as well – God knew how much vampire senses could be acute – but after I moved closer to the bed where Elizabeth was, I realized that wasn't a problem. Edward looked exactly like Bella did before she noticed my presence. A perfect, shining, incredibly sad marble statue. I gave him a long look. So that was the infamous Edward Cullen, the never forgotten first love of the late Mrs. Black. In that moment I wished Jacob would never find out of his presence there. Beside fighting against a ghost for years, there was another reason why Jacob hated that bronze-haired guy… I saw something in Jacob's and Sam's head, something about Bella being completely devastated by Edward's departure, but nothing more. And I couldn't bring out the subject myself, cause I valued my life too much and everyone would know I paid too much attention to shared memories during our time as wolves.

And the girl, Elizabeth… with that skin and those hair, she looked as close as a vampire a human could be. And beautiful, even with that broken arm and those bumps and bruises on her skin. I made a mental note to ask Bella what happened to her friend before coming here, why she was helping her… but first things first, I promised to take a closer look at that girl. So I did.

I wasn't an expert – obviously; the expert was sitting on the couch downstairs – but that body didn't look like it had been dead for 12 hours. Even I knew about rigor mortis and stuff – god bless Discovery Channel – and the way Edward was holding her hand… in a nutshell: Elizabeth looked more comatose than dead. But she was dead, because she wasn't breathing…

I felt Bella climbing the stairs a few moments after, and I stepped out of the way before she could bump into me. She gave me a short glance, and then walked to Edward, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"Edward, let's go. We must feed."

"I'm not thirsty."

"Yes, you are. We didn't feed that much before leaving Chicago, and we can't allow ourselves to get weak. Not now."

"Do you really believe we can make her come back?"

At that point, Bella glanced again in my direction. With the same look she had when she needed me to do something for her, and she really didn't want to ask for my help.

"We must find her first. And ghosts… they won't tell me that. I'm the enemy after all."

But I could spy them for her. Good plan, Bella.

"But I won't ask _anyone_ to do _my_ job in _my_ place."

Edward was too concentrated on his own guilt and pain to catch the sense of that sentence, but I just wanted to shout at Bella and tell her to stop acting like that. It wasn't just her battle, it was mine, too. And I would've fight it till the end.

"I'll go downstairs now… don't wait too long," she said, hugging Edward's shoulders for an instant and then letting him go. I followed her downstairs, where I found my pencil and notebook, but Bella motioned me to wait until we were outside of this house.

_What's wrong with your friend and how can I help you?_

"You will keep yourself from getting killed, that's how you can help me."

_Bella, you know I can help your friend. And you know I know that you know._

"And I hate myself for this! Dave, I can't lose another friend. Forget I ever suggested you this!"

_Or what? You will turn me into a frog?_

"No, but I sure know someone who _could_."

_Nice try, but I'm doing it anyway._

I threw the notebook at her, and I ran away in the forest before she could do anything about it. Except shouting my name, and what an utter idiot I was being, something she did since we were children… something I fiercely missed in these twenty years of separation.

If Elizabeth's soul was still around here, I would've found her. Bella maybe forgave me long ago, but that was my chance to finally make things even with my betrayal, when I indirectly helped Charlie and Josh kidnap her from Forks once the pack learned she was a Whisperer. I would've moved the mountains, if that could help me achievethat.

But first… Clothes.

***

[Elizabeth]

There was just one thing worse than being helpless: being helpless and obliged to listen to a crazy woman's ramblings all night long. Claire clearly wanted to be sure I understood the reasons why she wanted to destroy the reservation and had killed all those men. I was wrong: Julie was indeed dangerous, but it was Claire that summoned her, longing to see her daughter again. Claire wanted revenge and told the daughter how to become a Lady in White, or something like that. And again, it was Claire that came out with the plan and found a way to build her army. Claire also wanted to hurt Bella, and I had no idea why. Bella didn't tell me the details of what happened in La Push when we left Chicago – I was too sedated and too scared, and even if she did I wouldn't remember anyway. But now I was scared. For me, obviously, but also for her. Bella…

How Bella could be part of this equation was beyond me, but it was true that her father was taken just a few hours after her arrival. And that ghost guy – Charlie – was just too happy to tell me he was Bella's brother and that he hoped to see her sister burn to death, the same way he died. Julie… well, she wanted to kill Dave and let Grace watch every single second of his death. Bella was just an afterthought for her, or so she made it seem. I knew better, though. Mick and I had the same tight relationship; every girlfriend would be mortally jealous of that.

These two had a reason to hate Bella, but I couldn't understand Claire's. Like I couldn't understand how and where she could've learned all that stuff. Grandma Helena believed in many things and tried to get me into that stuff when I was a kid, since my mother didn't want to have anything to do with that. I thought it was just a game… God, I so wished I had paid more attention to her tales now.

I slightly moved, and the chains produced an almost musical sound. Charlie and Julie smirked.

"Uncomfortable? Wait until this is over… then we can start having fun."

I shot them a death glare, and I asked myself for the millionth time how chains that didn't exist could be so damn heavy. And tight. And why I was so restricted to begin with. I was alone with Charlie and Julie in that moment, Claire disappeared in her secret room a few moments earlier. And I decided it was the right time to strike back.

My grandmother always told me two things: One was that there is nothing in this world, real or unreal, that once done can't be undone, probably the only witchcraft notion she had ever managed to teach me. The other one was that I could've charmed the Devil itself, had the Devil something I wanted. The latter was extremely true. I would've smiled, wept, flattered and pleaded to achieve my goals back in the day when I was the queen bee of my school… and now my goal was to get rid of those chains and warn Bella, cause Bella surely had no idea of who was really behind this.

What could be the best way to start?

Tears, I thought after a second. Yeah… Tears would do nicely.

"Aw, look, we made her cry," Julie said with a childish voice, when she saw a big tear rolling down my cheek. I let them taunt me for a few minutes, then I asked God for forgiveness and moved to the second phase of my plan.

"There was no need to do this to me. It's not like Bella can put on that much of a fight…"

"I beg to differ. She could put one hell of a fight when she was alive.. she probably just got worse with the years."

I chuckled. "Someone that needs a bodyguard every time she steps in a cemetery? Really?"

Well, the bodyguard's name was Jasper and it wasn't like Bella really wanted him there cause she could take care of herself, but there was no need for them to know.

"We heard different things," said Julie. "Demons, exorcisms…"

Of course they did. "Cause she knows the right people to ask for help. That guy in Ireland, demon hunters, witches… she would never do that thing for herself. Bella doesn't have it in her."

"You were so sure she could kick our ass…"

"Well, not anymore. Plus… If you are someone so skilled, so good at witchcraft, then why you take your friend that has been stalked by a psychopath for months here in the woods instead of sorting things out yourself?"

I faked a little anger, and cursed Bella because she didn't do enough to help me. More than enough to make them less suspicious against me, but they would never tell me how to free myself. Then Charlie, thank the Lord, came out with something I wasn't expecting.

"Listen, Jules… she could become one of us, after this is over. And you will be done with your punishment, of course."

"Of course," I replied, trying to figure out my next moves. I watched Bella's brother, and wondered how the two could really be related. Something, I supposed, both Bella and Charlie had often wondered as well.

"We'll see," was Julie's laconic answer. "It's not like she's going anywhere, is it?"

"Ok, you two," I said, trying to think quickly. "If you knew me a little better than this you would already see the chance in front of you, but since you don't…"

It was a total, absolute, giant leap of faith, and I prayed Grandma got the story right cause my life depended on it. Literally.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm a Kalderash. A _Kotlyary_," I said, and then looked on their faces for signs of reaction. I had to bite my cheek not to smile at their rage… So even _that_ story was true? I couldn't believe it. When she told me about vampires, grandma also told me about the raging hate my family felt against werewolves. One of her story – the only one really involving witchcraft – was about how our family, just arrived from Europe, was still moving from place to place, trying to find a place to live. When they moved in the Washington state they settled near the La Push reservation, without knowing the double nature of its inhabitants. When a clan of vampires arrived there too – maybe the Cullens, maybe others… grandmother was still a child at the time and she didn't know yet about Carlisle – it became clear the three minorities couldn't live near each other. The wolves attacked the camp looking for the vampires, but they accidentally killed a couple of little girls… and one of the Gipsy women cursed them all out of revenge.

Judging by what happened to the reservation just in the last years, she must've been one hell of a witch.

"Gipsy people are not welcome here," Julie hissed. "At all."

Hoping that my grandmother wouldn't fulminate me, I proceeded telling them the biggest lie ever.

"Gipsy stories and vampires got me here where I'm standing, sweetheart. Do you think I care for them now? They took away my life. Now I just want revenge on them… exactly like _you_."

There… I could see it, I just said the magic words.

"I know where the nomadic branch of the family is," I continued. "I can guide you there if you want to get your revenge on them, too."

"This is surely interesting," said Charlie. The prospect of hurting someone else once they were done with the reservation was already making him smile… Ok, I reminded myself. Just playing them, nothing would happen to the only family I got left because they would never know where they were. End of story.

"Interesting enough to be used as leverage," continued Julie. The girl was clever, I had to give her that. I made the chains tinkle and gave her an eloquent look.

Julie and Charlie exchanged a look, and Julie took one of the glowing globes from the basket. With her hand. How in the hell…?

Julie put the globe on another table near me. It was slightly different from the others… smaller, irradiating a faint, purple glow. I watched the globe and then I watched Julie, frowning.

"Break it and the chains will disappear."

Ok, if she could do it… I tried to catch the small sphere, but my hand just passed through it and the table's surface. Julie and Charlie burst out laughing like it was the funniest thing they ever saw. I just wanted to kill them all over again.

"It took mefour _years_ to learn that trick," she sneered. "But maybe a _Kalderash_ can master it sooner…"

Oh God, I was that close to my boiling point, and being restrained without a chance to get free was really, really frustrating. I tried another couple of times, much to Julie and Charlie's amusement… Then I raised my eyes, and my anger vanished.

The cavalry was finally there.

Sort of.

Who the hell was that guy outside the window, and more important question…_How could he see me?_


	17. Battle

[Dave]

I couldn't actually believe how easy it was to find the evil witch's marzipan house. I just had to follow the ghosts, and be patient. I knew that sooner or later they would take me to their leader.

I didn't even know there was a cabin in that area to begin with… or maybe it had always been there, hidden by magic. I was still having a hard time believing that stuff existed for real, and I saw Bella performing magic in front of me. Just… Vampires? Fine. Werewolves? Good. But if that stuff was real too… what else was?

I moved closer to the cabin windows, and my heart skipped a beat.

Julie.

Julie was there, looking exactly like the last time I saw her alive, minus her pregnant belly. Charlie was there too, and both looked like they were having the time of their lives taunting someone… and when I gave a good look at the chained girl, my heart skipped a beat again, but for an entirely different reason.

Elizabeth. I found her!

And she was royally pissed, that I could tell. Those green eyes were quite menacing, but both Julie and Charlie found that really amusing. And a second later, those eyes met mine and widened in surprise for a second.

She was surprised to see me? Hell, I was shocked she could see _me_, for God's sake! How was that possible?

Ok, I thought after a deep breath. Not the strangest thing that happened to me lately. Now I had to figure out how to take her out of there… how do you free a ghost from chains you can't touch?

Then I saw Elizabeth keep on trying and trying again to catch a small, purple globe, and she looked at me again when Charlie and Julie were distracted. I couldn't understand why she kept doing it, and I got a glare in return. I frowned and indicated the chains, and she hurriedly nodded before her two guards went back to taunt her.

I knew Charlie was as mean as a snake, but to watch and hear Julie behaving like that was horrible for me. She wasn't like that… she could be a real bitch sometimes, but I could've never imagined she could help someone kill people she knew and grew up with. I simply refused to consider the other option, that the person in front of me was the real Julie, and that the woman I loved didn't exist anymore, or never existed to begin with.

If only Charlie and Julie would leave Elizabeth alone… I could be invisible, but I couldn't walk through walls and the door was closed…

I was still pondering the situation when I saw a hand raising the embroidered tapestry from the wall. Charlie and Julie immediately stopped talking, and Elizabeth was looking at the scene with an expression I couldn't define. Something like I'm-scared-but-like-hell-I'm-going-to-show-it…

No surprise there. She was friends with Bella, of course she had guts.

And there came surprise number three. The hand I saw belonged to Claire Ateara, Julie's mother. My God… I couldn't believe my eyes. Claire?

[Elizabeth]

I wasn't sure that guy really understood what I tried to tell him. I wasn't even sure he could actually help, but you don't look into the horse's mouth, right?

Charlie and Julie stopped talking immediately when they saw Claire raising the tapestry to come back in the room. The moaning I could hear from the other room was bone-chilling, but it immediately stopped once the door was closed and the tapestry back into place. I hadn't even realized there was a door behind it, before Claire raised it to get into the other room a couple hours earlier. And it didn't simply hide the door, it also prevented anyone from hearing what was really going on in there. Nothing pleasant, of that I was sure.

I feared Claire would notice the purple globe near my hand, or worse, that she could see the guy outside the window, but luckily for us she had something else in mind. Namely, her newest victim.

"I think it's time for you two to go and bring Dave here."

"At last, I thought this moment would never come," said Julie, without concealing her satisfaction. "But we're taking Grace too. I want her to see every second of what's going to happen to her beloved husband."

"I don't see why not. But you'll need help; I'm coming with you."

"And leave her here alone?"

Claire then half turned to give me an amused look. "And where exactly could she go, my dear? But let's go now, the faster we go, the faster we'll be back."

"The faster they'll die," added Charlie. "Payback. Finally."

Something in Charlie's voice made me shiver. It didn't sound like he was talking about a few people. More like he referred to a bigger group…

No, that couldn't be true.

_The reservation_?

Maybe my ancestor's curse put things in motion, but it was Claire and her ghosts that started killing people, sure that Bella would come sooner or later. Bella, who took everyone's pain personally, who was so devoted to helping people with her gift… She would never recover from something like that, and worse thing of all, she would surely find a way to blame herself for the rest of her life.

I cursed silently. Not even my friend could redeem souls as black as theirs. I thanked God when they left me alone. One more minute, and I wouldn't have been able to keep up my act any longer. Patience is so not one of my virtues.

For a second I feared that witch had cast a spell or something like that on the door and that my new friend couldn't get inside and free me… but luckily for me, Claire and her ghosts clearly overestimated their strategic skills. I literally sank on the floor with relief when I say that young man coming inside.

"Oh thank you God. Thank you so much," I said, smiling for the first time since that story began.

"Wrong name but I accept the thank-yous, Elizabeth," he replied, and I didn't even felt the desire of kicking him in the shins for that stupid joke… Wait. He called me Elizabeth?!?

"How in the hell do you know my name?"

"We have a common friend, and we've never been properly introduced. Dave Call, nice to meet you."

"Dave… Bella's Dave? The werewolf?"

Ok. How could someone that should be in his early forties still look like he was twenty-five?

"What about we leave now and find Bella? I'm sure she will be thrilled to know her enemy at last."

I indicated the purple globe. "Break it and you're done."

"This one? And they left it in plain sight? How can someone be so stupid to…?"

I gave him an evil grin. "I'm very good at talking to people."

He took the globe in his hand and returned the smile. Thank God, he could touch it! Dave threw the globe on the floor, and the moment it shattered in a thousand pieces, freeing the light trapped in it, my chains fell off my body and dissolved before they could touch the ground.

"My hero."

"Anytime, darling. Let's go now!"

"Wait a second. Whatever that bitch did to me, in one of those books there must be something to undo it. I don't have much time!"

"More than Jacob and me, though. And if we don't stop her, I don't think your ghost status will matter anymore. Do you know where Jacob and the others are? There should be another two men here," he said, looking at the pavement… and I couldn't understand why. Apparently, he was expecting to find a trapdoor or something like that…

"Why are you doing this? They are behind the tapestry. The other room…"

Dave stopped his inspection and looked at me, completely surprised.

"What other room? There is no other room."

"You probably can't see it from outside," I commented, moving near the tapestry. "They're behind it. I've… I've heard them," I whispered. "We have to get them out of there."

I could see Dave's struggle. Enter or not enter? Not that I would've blamed him if he chose to go away. Whatever was behind that door, it probably belonged to a horror movie. Dave clutched the fabric and lifted it, and immediately we heard a scream coming from behind the door. Without thinking Dave opened the door and run inside. He shouted at me not to come inside…

Pity I was already behind him.

I was wrong, actually. What Claire did to those men in front of me didn't belong in a horror movie. Hell probably wasn't that different.

I wished I could run. I wished I could hide in a hole with my eyes shut and hands on my ears. I didn't want to see all that blood, I didn't want to hear their screams. But I already knew I would remember that for the rest of my life.

"Jacob," Dave whispered, and ran to help the one writhing in pain on the floor, also the one that screamed before we got in the room. So, that was Bella's father… at last we meet, I thought grimly. Bella told me many things about her past, but she didn't have any photograph to show me, God knew why…

I tried to help Dave with Jacob, but I couldn't touch him and Dave was invisible to them, like me. When I asked for an explanation, he pointed at the sachet around his neck and said that was all Bella's doing; he removed it only for a couple seconds, to explain Jacob and the other men what was going on. He put it back on immediately, and he began taking Claire's victims out of that place one at the time. And all I could do was watch. I was completely useless to him, and I hated that feeling with all I had. If only I knew how to appear directly to Bella, I could've alerted her immediately… instead I would've had to wait for Dave to take me to her. Damn it.

After a quick check, Jacob was the one in better shape. No severed hand like the guy named Paul, and the eyes were still at their place, unlike an older man Dave didn't feel the need to introduce.

"Ok, now what? They don't look in condition to get away from here running."

"What if they don't?" said Dave, with a weird look in his eyes. Oh no. Oh no, for God's sake, _no_.

"You kidding me? Bella gave you that thing for your protection! That crazy woman is out there looking for you right now, have you forgotten that?"

And I couldn't do it on my own. They couldn't see me or touch me, for crying out loud, how was I supposed to take them back to a place I had no idea of where it was?

"Jacob can lead them, he's getting better now that he's out of there. You, on the other hand, have someone to warn." He then turned to look at Jacob, helping the older, blind man and Paul, and told them to walk straight in front of them to get to the reservation. We watched them disappear in the woods. I would've made sure to send someone after them before the ghosts…

"Well, well, well," said Julie, appearing out of nowhere behind me. "Seems like I've underestimated you, Kalderash!"

"Warn Bella. Go!" Dave shouted to me, removing his talisman and becoming visible to Julie's eyes.

"NO!" I screamed in response, but Julie didn't even notice. She looked like a girl living the best day of her life…

And all of sudden, a thick fog engulfed me and a million hands dragged me away from there. I tried to fight them… but I wasn't strong enough. They were so many…

"Enough."

That single word was more than enough for the ghosts to let me go. I was shaking like a leaf; at that point I didn't care anymore if someone could see my fear.

"I told you to get her away from there, not to scare her to death!"

Okay. Now I was sure… I had lost it. Pretty much comprehensible. Grandma's death, Gabriel, my heart attack, they hit me at last. Because there was no way in hell I could've heard that voice. It simply couldn't be true. I refused to accept it even when I felt – exactly, felt – her hand on my shoulder.

"Everything's is going to be alright. Elizabeth… turn and look at me."

Honestly, I didn't have the courage. So she made me turn herself.

And I found myself staring at Sarah St. John.

My mother.

"Mom…"

She smiled at me, and a second later I was in her arms, laughing and crying at the same time. My mother. My mother was there, and she was hugging me like her life depended on it. In that moment, I didn't care about Bella, the reservation, the hovering menace represented by Claire and her madness. I was with my mother, and nothing else mattered.

"Lizzie, sweetheart…" she said, smiling again and stroking my hair. "I can't believe I can see you again."

"I can't believe you're here, Mom..."

"I've always been there, every single moment. Along with your father… and recently, your grandmother."

"Grandma? Is she here?"

"Of course. How could we leave you? But you have to listen carefully now. What's happening now…"

"We triggered it. Our people. The curse."

My mother looked surprised to hear that from me. Probably she had no idea of what grandmother Helena meant for 'bedtime stories', or perhaps she didn't think she would ever told me that… and in this moment I was so happy she did.

"Exactly. That's also the reason why we are all still here," said my mother, and told me to look around me. Some of the faces were awfully familiar… but come on…

"The… The ghosts… they're… family?"

"Yes, child," said a old woman in front of me. "A side-effect of the curse I cast on those… animals," she hissed through her teeth. "What I didn't realize was that the curse would create a link between us and them. We can't move on until the curse is broken, and the only way to break it is for our people and the Quileute to forget the past."

And why did I have the impression that easy task would fall on me?

"I don't know if I can do it."

"You're my great-grandchild, of course you can."

"They won't listen to me."

"That's why you have to bring Jonas and the others here."

_Jonas_? Pigs would fly before I saw Jonas Kotlyary swallow his pride and come here!

Jonas was Grandma Helena's brother, and with the rest of the family owned a carnival in Canada. When I had to run away from Chicago, he welcomed me with open arms and I lived amongst my Gypsy relatives for months, until I was sure it was safe for me to come back. Jonas was a reasonable man, most of the time, but he was also a fierce supporter of our traditions and never truly accepted Helena's decision to leave the nomadic lifestyle and raise her daughter outside the tribe.

Nice. Like I didn't have enough on my plate already!

"I will. I swear. I just hope I'll have my body back by then."

"You will. I trust Bella," said my mother, and I gave her a curious look.

"You never met her."

She just gave me one of her knowing smiles. "You must go now. It won't be the last time you'll see me, I promise. Your father and grandmother want to see you too. And… tell Bella I said hi, ok?"

Before I could tell her I had no idea of how that disappearing trick worked, she touched my shoulder again.

Without warning, in a heartbeat later I was back in my room at Bella's house.

Well, thanks mom. I will kill you later. I turned to face the bed, and I actually jumped backwards in shock. Good thing I didn't have a beating heart at the moment, otherwise I would be probably already experiencing another heart attack.

I was staring at my own cadaver.

_Ok_, I said to myself. Get _a grip, girl. This is _so_ not happening. You're just… temporarily out of there. Just on a little vacation. Bella will figure it out. And Edward will stop looking at you that way. Because Edward Cullen… looking at you with all that sadness in his eyes… that's just wrong._

I shouldn't even know that. I shouldn't even move behind him and put my hands on his shoulders, hoping he could feel me somehow… but I did.

How long had he been there with me? Since I lost consciousness?

_Stop looking at me like this, Edward. Stop, please…_

"Oh my god. You're here!"

My hands left Edward's shoulders like they were on fire and I got third-degree burns. Edward, still oblivious to my presence there, gave Bella, still by the door, a curious look.

"I haven't moved, Bella."

Then Bella gave him – us – one of her radiant smile. That was nice. If Bella was smiling, then everything wasn't going to hell. Yet.

"Not talking about you, brother. Or _to_ you."

And I suddenly got my wish granted. Edward stopped looking at me with sadness and pain.

He smiled instead. A broad, relieved smile that lit up his face…

I cringed. God. Will I ever learn to be careful with what I wish for?

"Elizabeth!" exclaimed Bella. "Oh thank God, I was so worried. What happened to you?"

"Later, Bella. It's Claire! Claire Ateara is responsible for everything! And she has Dave now!"

"Whoa, slow down! Claire Ateara? And Dave has a talisman. He wouldn't be so stupid…"

"To take it off so that Jacob and the other could escape? Cause it's what he did!"

"God, no," said Bella, bringing one hand to her mouth. "My father… where are they now?"

"Still in the forest. Call your friends in the reservation, they will need help. Medical assistance too. Claire… did things to them. She's a monster."

"I'm calling Sam right now. Don't you dare move!" said Bella, running out the door.

"Not a chance," I whispered, sitting on the bed. Next to… well, me. I looked at Edward, and Edward looked at the other me on the bed.

"I'm glad you're back," he said. "You must hold on just a little longer. Bella will undo the spell and you'll go back to be your old self…"

I smiled. Well, that was sweet…

"…annoying, sarcastic, brash, rude and antisocial."

"Be glad I can't hit you, Cullen," I muttered under my teeth, but when I looked at him again… he was doing his best not to laugh. He was taunting me now that couldn't defend myself… how chivalrous of him!

"So you _do_ have a sense of humor after all," I said to him, even if I knew he couldn't hear me.

"I bet you're probably thinking of a dozen ways to make me regret my last statement right now."

"Just a dozen? You so underestimate me!"

"And bitching at me like you always do."

"Go. To. Hell."

"And now you've probably wished me to go to hell."

Ok, that was borderline disturbing. When exactly did Edward go inside my head? He couldn't read my mind at the moment, and still he knew exactly how I would reply. Whatever that meant, though, I didn't want to think about it. Not now, anyway.

Cause the implications of that weren't definitely something I was ready to accept.

[Bella]

Nothing.

I kept calling Sam's house, but no one picked up the phone. Where the hell was he? I tried calling Embry and Kim, but no one was home either. I was this close to calling Leah when the phone rang.

"Bella, it's Grace."

"Grace, thank God. Listen, I know who's behind this and where the kidnapped men are."

"I know that too."

"What? Grace, what are you talking about?"

Grace tried to speak, but all I could hear was a choked sob.

"Grace, what's going on?"

"They're all at First Beach! The pack! They're going to drown! We tried to stop them but it's like we're not even there! And Dave is there too… and Jacob…" sobbed Grace. "We can do nothing, Bella, the ghosts won't allow us to do nothing! Help us, please! He…"

"Grace? Grace!" I shouted, but all I could hear was static. The phone line had been interrupted.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

It was the only thing I could say. I… I couldn't do it. It was too much for me alone. Claire was probably still in the cabin, ready to launch her attack. Her ghosts were creating havoc in the reservation, terrorizing the human population. The pack was gathered on the cliff at First Beach, ready to jump to their deaths. That type of mind control couldn't be achieved without the blood of your victims… How did Claire get access to it? No, this plan wasn't something she came up with recently. She must have planned and nurtured her revenge for years, before coming back to the reservation. Waiting for the perfect day to strike…

Three fronts. I couldn't fight them all by myself…

Edward clearly heard me sobbing, because he was next to me the second after, along with Elizabeth. He hugged me tightly, and for a minute or two I just cried, or whatever was that stuff we vampires do. I was totally on the verge of a nervous breakdown… no better moment to become a sobbing wreck that the one just before the greatest battle of your life…

"I can't do it, Edward. Not this time…"

"Bella, please. Don't talk like that. We all trust you and your powers. The things Jasper told me about you…"

"I wish he was here. God, I miss him so much…"

"Bella, tell us what's happened. Maybe we can help," said Elizabeth. I gave her a weak smile.

"Unless you know where to find an army of ghost willing to fight for me, I don't think you can."

Ok. That was meant to be sarcastic. Why Elizabeth was smiling?

"Perfect. I'll go tell them. Those Quileutes ghosts will never know what hit them!"

"Elizabeth, what are you talking about?"

She disappeared before I could finish the sentence.

"Sounds like Elizabeth has already made some friends between the ghosts… but it won't be enough. I have to go to First Beach, Claire is ready to kill the entire pack…"

"But if we don't take care of Claire right now, she will just come back one day and start again."

Oh my. I knew that look.

"No, Edward. I can't ask you this."

"You didn't. I volunteer. Go and save your father. I'll take care of Claire."

"Claire is dangerous."

"But she's still human, is she?"

"Depends on your definition of human."

"Then I'm still more dangerous than her."

There was no way I would make him change his mind, I knew that. But the least I could do was to give him some advice.

"Claire clearly mastered the art of creating illusions. She will see you coming, and she will send your worst nightmares after you. You must keep in mind all the time that they are not real. If you start believing they are, they will become real… and you don't want that to happen. Trust my word."

Edward nodded, and a second later he was already gone.

I sighed.

I never fought an enemy I couldn't defeat, but this time I couldn't honestly tell if my friends and I would be the ones still standing at the end of this battle.


	18. Reckoning, part one

_Hey there! First things first, I just want to say sorry to who's reading this fic. It took me forever to write this chapter and my new obsession for SGU didn't exactly help. Just to clarify... I'm not abandoning this fic. I know how this story is going to end, and I have a few ideas for a sequel. If you're willing to be patient and wait, I'll try and make it worthwhile._

_And now, onto the story!_

* * *

**[Elizabeth]**

I couldn't help but feel proud of myself when I disappeared just outside Bella's house and reappeared next to my mother. This thing was way easier than I thought!

My plan, on the other hand… not so much. My parents and grandparents immediately volunteered to help me and the reservation, but the oldest ghosts weren't that forgiving or open-minded. Werewolves were evil, inferior creatures, and that ended the question. A few were caught between these two fires, eager to break the curse and move on while not exactly ready to trust the family's sworn enemy, but they weren't enough to make the others change their minds. And the time was running out…

"Enough!" I shouted, tired of all their endless talks and fights. And it was true; I'd really had enough—enough of this situation, enough of what life had thrown atme since my parents' death, enough of… pretty much everything. I was on the verge of a really overdue breakdown, and I didn't really care about who was on the receiving end of my rant.

"Did you listen to yourself? You sound like children! Those people's lives are in danger, it should be a no-brainer… instead we're still here discussing werewolves and how much we hate them! Do I need to remind everyone here that this situation is practically our fault? We brought this curse on ourselves, not just on them. There is just one way this situation can end, and we all know it. So why in the name of God we're still here talking?"

"I don't think you truly understand how…"

"I understand your pride is clouding your judgment, Andreij," I said to one of my great-great uncles. I can't obligate you to come with me. I won't. But rest assured, the Whisperer will know who stayed by her side and who refused to help. "

"You wouldn't blackmail your own family…"

"Exactly. So don't make me. Now, can I please know how many of you have decided to stay and how many are coming with me?"

I really didn't know what I was thinking. Maybe I wasn't the rational, manipulative bitch I thought to be, because just the half of my relatives decided to come with me at the reservation. Eighty ghosts, including me, ready to face an army at least three times bigger. Good thing we couldn't die, otherwise I would've considered that mission a true suicide.

My grandmother put one hand on my shoulder. "Second thoughts, Lizzie?"

"I'm scared and I'm not ashamed to say it aloud, Grandma."

"Only fools and crazy people don't get scared," said my father, and my mother nodded in agreement.

"Really? I thought only fools and crazy could do this."

"Or friends," smiled my mother.

"OK, enough with the mystery. How do you know Bella?"

Mom and Dad exchanged an amused smile.

"So?"

"She was my roommate at college. Bella died in a car accident on her way back home, or so we thought. It was quite the surprise when we heard she was immortal… and that she could talk with ghosts. Or maybe not, she was always so caring and sweet… but you know that too."

"She was your roommate," I repeated. My best friend had been my mother's roommate at college when she was still a human girl. It was enough to make my head spin at the most inappropriate moment.

"Well? Are we done? I thought we had a battle to fight!," my grandmother reminded us.

Yeah, right. The battle. For a second I had even allowed myself to forget. And for another one, I even conceded myself the luxury of feeling scared. I was just a teenage girl after all, no matter how highly I thought of myself. A teenage dead girl.

A teenage dead girl who shouldn't have been dead in the first place. Claire didn't want me to interfere with her plans? Well, the witch and her precious daughter were in for a surprise, and at the moment I didn't care if that could become another battle of Thermophilis. We wouldn't back down. With that spirit, we all appeared in La Push, ready to face our enemy, but what we saw when we all appeared was… well, not what we were expecting.

I stared speechless at the trashed, abandoned town, at the broken doors and windows. Could ghosts really do that?

We suddenly heard people screaming from an house at the end of the road. It was immersed in a thick fog that wasn't really fog at all. The house was still in one piece, though, unlike the others. Why?

"Amazing what we can do with a little focus, huh?" Julie Ateara mocked me, appearing out of nowhere right in front of us and interrupting my musing. Julie just gave us a look and started to laugh, glancing at the house.

"Do you think your little bunch of friends scares me?"

All of sudden, the fog left the house and a thousand ghosts materialized behind Julie as proof of what she was saying. Like I needed one.

Of course they weren't scared by us. They outnumbered us – we knew that. But we would fight nonetheless. Thermopolis, indeed.

Grandmother Helena gave the Quileute ghosts a look full of despisal.

"Come on, child. I think we Kalderash have to teach those dogs a lesson again," she hissed, and I couldn't have phrased it better myself.

An instant later, the battle began.

**[Bella]**

When I arrived at First Beach, for a second I felt tempted to turn my back and run away. The pack was on the cliff, all ready to jump to their deaths in the raging sea below. Their families were there, each one screaming and trying to wake up their loved ones, all fallen in some deep catatonic state. Leah and Faith were shouting and crying, but my father didn't react. He was holding something in his hand, something glowing. I couldn't tell what was exactly, and no one besides Jacob was holding that thing in their hands.

I looked at La Push, and my heart sank at the thought of the people that didn't manage to escape the ghosts. From what I gathered when I arrived, Grace was one of the few that didn't make it out of the town—but she barricaded herself and the others in her house, with salt protecting every entrance. Once just a stupid story that belonged with folklore and legends, it was now the only way those people had to survive the angry spirits and the creatures their negativity attracted. Before I left, Dave had asked me how to eventually protect the house, and I give them some quick instructions and a couple of magical signs they could use. I really hoped Grace had paid attention to my words.

_Please, Edward, find Claire_, I thought, lighting the last candle on the ground. I was on the cliff too, and I was going to try and fight the spell that kept everyone in Claire's hands. Something easier said than done—Claire was definitely a more expert witch than I was, and as determined as me to win this battle. I took a deep breath, thought again of my brother and friend fighting their battles in that very moment, and I joined them in the fight. Protecting the pack, that was my task… I just hoped I could make it.

No one protested when Faith, on my orders, detached herself from our father and gathered a sample of blood from all the people present. Claire had the blood of the pack members, and the only way I knew to overcome that spell was to use the blood bonds between the pack and their families against Claire's magic. Nothing's stronger, thicker than blood, or so I learned when I started studying witchcraft. I didn't share that kind of bond with my family. Esme and Carlisle had always been my parents, in every way that counted, but we didn't have the same blood in our veins…

Faith handed me the cloth stained with the blood of everyone, ready to be burned and used for the spell, but I stopped one second before setting it on fire. There was still someone that didn't draw blood for the ritual, and that someone was me. I sighed and bit my wrist, letting a few drops of blood stain the cloth. I didn't care about the wound, it would seal immediately, but it would leave a scar. A scar reminding me the lengths I was willing to go for the same family that had banned me.

"Will it work?" asked Faith. I tried to look and sound reassuring, but the truth was I had no idea. Just hope in my skills and friends.

"It will," I said, burning the cloth. "It has to."

Faith gave me a puzzled look when she heard me cast a spell in Gaelic, but she didn't say a word—probably not to break my concentration. Those few words became my mantra, and nothing would've stopped me from saying them over and over again, until the spell worked or Claire died.

Or both.

**[Edward]**

Bella's words kept ringing in my ears. Claire would use my fears against me, and I didn't have to believe a thing otherwise the nightmare would become real. But when I reached the cabin in the woods, the one Elizabeth described, it was abandoned. No glowing globes, no books, no hidden torture rooms. Just a regular cabin. Claire had already left.

"Damn it!" I hissed, kicking one of the table's legs, breaking it like a breadstick. Ok, I thought. She couldn't be that far. Claire had worked too hard to miss the last act of her revenge. She had to be still there. But where?

I opened the door to get out of the cabin, but all of sudden I wasn't in the woods anymore. I was in a dark alley… somewhere.

_Let's see, Edward. Let's see how much you can endure._

That voice… that was Claire, there was no doubt. And that place looked too familiar to be just a random alley.

"Hello, Edward. It's been such a long time."

I knew that voice. And I knew that if I turned I would've seen a short man in his forties, with clear blue eyes, round eyeglasses and short brown hair, wearing a green golf and tweed pants. His name was Andrew Salander, and he was responsible for the rape and violent death of at least four young women.

As I was responsible for his.

I slowly turned. Yes, everything was exactly like I remembered. Eyes, librarian-style clothes, that predatory smirk of his. The slashed throat, still pouring blood on the clothes.

"Do you remember me?"

"Of course I do," I replied. I did, and I would've given everything not to. That phase of my life, the moment I decided I could be judge, jury and executor and bring my justice on the streets. The people I killed, the remorse I was now feeling…

"Hope you don't mind, I brought some friends. There are so many people that wanted to say hello to you."

I slowly turned, and I found myself facing all the drug dealers, murderers, rapists I've killed in those years. Every and each one of them was staring at me, covered in their own blood.

"This is not real. You're not here."

"We're in your head. Forever. You murdered us in cold blood, Edward. What makes you better than us?"

I couldn't allow them to get to me. Bella and Elizabeth counted on me. That was the most important part of the plan, and I couldn't let them down. I ignored their provocations and tried to get out of the alley, but all of sudden I found myself on the ground with a throbbing pain on the back of my head.

Pain?

I touched the head, and I felt my fingers wet with blood as my tormentors laughed. I touched my neck, too. Under the skin I could feel my heartbeat. No, that was crazy. That was impossible.

"Not so invincible anymore, huh?" said Andrew. "I guess it's time for us to give you a taste of your own medicine."

I realized what he meant when I got up and looked at him in the face again. His face had changed. The eyes were bloody red, the skin chalk white. They all looked the same.

"This is not real," I repeated. "It's just a trick."

Andrew and his friends smirked evilly. One second later, the only thing existing in my head was the searing pain they were inflicting me with their fangs and bites. I was the helpless human, that time. No matter how many times I kept repeating in my head that was just an illusion, the nightmare continued. They were going to tear my body apart, when everything stopped… and I found myself in an hospital. The place was a curious mixture of old and new, like two different buildings were trying to exist in the same time and place.

I moved past two old-fashioned patients using modern wheelchairs, and I began walking down the corridor waiting for the next nightmare Claire would throw at me. I let my guard down for a second and she trapped me there, yes, but if I could figure out the pattern, maybe I could wake up and kill the witch. She had just ensured that I would do everything in my power to give her the slowest, most painful death I could.

A glimpse of a familiar blonde head caught my attention while I was passing near one of the rooms. Carlisle? I immediately stopped and tried to open the door, but it was jammed. I looked inside, and my heart sank. I had found the next nightmare.

My mother's death.

**[Elizabeth]**

We were going to lose. We could fight until the end of time, but the situation would've never changed. They were too strong, too many. And our little army was just a drop in a really wide ocean. Our plan was to get to the people trapped in the house and take them somewhere safe, but considering the situation, the salt protecting every door and window and magical signs one of us saw painted on the floor, they were safer where they were now.

I didn't understand. What the hell happened to Bella and Edward? I refused to think Claire could be stronger than my friends combined. It just couldn't be.

"Admit your defeat, Kalderash," said Julie, appearing in front of me.

"Never."

"We're getting stronger and stronger. Soon demons and other creatures will join us. I offer you a chance to live."

I realized that 'you' was clearly direct at me. I was the only one not really dead, the one with a chance to go back to life in the truest sense of the word. One word from me, and everyone would stop fighting.

It was a shame I wasn't interested in surrender. At all. I told Julie that using some very colorful Romanian words I learned during my only visit to my family's homeland. She didn't understand a word, but my tone was so challenging and full of distaste that I was sure she had got the message loud and clear. I wouldn't back down, and neither my family. And if that meant to be destroyed by Julie's new allies… so be it.

I was going to speak again, when I noticed Julie's smile disappearing from her face. She was looking at something over my left shoulder, and I felt compelled to turn and see what made my enemy so worried.

I couldn't help but smile. That was the rest of my tribe and family… and apparently, a few family friends had decided to join the party too.

A few _hundreds_.

"Sorry Julie, I guess I forgot to mention it. My family is huge."

"They don't scare me."

But she was hyperventilating. Absurd, considering she was dead, but very telling about her state of mind. Andreij nodded in my direction, and I returned the gesture. An instant later, they all joined the fight. Julie disappeared, resuming her siege of Grace's house, and I joined Andreij into the battle.

"Changed your mind?"

"Family is more important than anything," said Andreij, punching a ghost in the face. "Even revenge."

I made a mental note to keep Andreij around when it would be time to convince Jonas to make peace with the Quileutes. If he could change his mind on the topic, then there was a little hope Jonas could too.

"What's the plan, granddaughter?"

"Keep the ghosts busy, prevent them from harming the people in that house… give Bella and Edward enough time to kill the witch and save the pack."

"Maybe those people can help your friends."

"But we can't get them all out. It's too dangerous. And it's not like I can go in there and ask."

Andreij gave me a weird smile, and barked some orders to his comrades to get the ghosts away from the house enough for me to get near the door and make an appeal. Maybe there was someone in there as crazy as me, and willing to risk his or her life, but I couldn't know for sure until I was there. Andreij and his army launched an attack against the mist, and a couple of ghosts stayed at my side while we fought our way through the enemy lines. I was told I didn't have more than ten minutes, so I had to make them count.

"My name is Elizabeth, I'm Bella Cullen's friend!" I shouted, certain to be heard thanks to all the supernatural energy surrounding that place. "Let me in or listen to me, I don't care! I need your help!"

No reaction. The drapes were closed, I couldn't see inside. I tried again.

"There's a plan to kill the witch Claire Ateara and get rid of the ghosts. Things can get back to normal, but I need…"

Suddenly the door opened, breaking the salt barrier. A young woman emerged from the house, shouting at me to get inside. I didn't make her repeat the invitation and I rushed inside, just a moment before my friends stopped holding the other ghosts back. The woman reconstructed the salt barrier and closed the door just in the nick of time, one second or less before the ghosts could come in.

The woman – Grace, I heard people call her – joined the rest of the people. I tried too, but I suddenly realized I couldn't move. The red paint on the floor was blocking me. Oh, come on. Was that stuff real too?

"Ok. Free me."

"Not until we're sure of who you are," said Grace.

"I told you who I am."

"Say it again."

I sighed. "My name is Elizabeth St. John. I'm a friend of Bella Cullen's, I think you consider her some kind of witch… Whisperer, I think you call her. Dave called her because there was some kind of emergency she had to deal with, and since I was dealing with trouble myself she offered to take me with her."

Grace and the others looked at my ghost appearance and if the situation wasn't so serious they would've probably laughed at me.

"I was human until I came here. I… I angered Claire by reading the cards. I can see things when I read my tarots, and I was going to expose her plans. I'm not dead, but I will be soon if that bitch doesn't undo the spell or die. Right now, I'm rooting for the latter option."

I indicated the floor. "Would you mind? It's the second time in 48 hours I've been trapped against my will… it's getting really annoying."

I could as well talked to a bunch of statues. Great.

"You said there's a plan to get rid of Claire," said an older woman standing next to Grace. "Speak."

"Bella is trying to save the pack before they kill themselves, and her brother is looking for Claire in the woods. My task was to fight the ghosts so that they couldn't go anywhere else and obstruct Bella and Edward's work. But I'm afraid Edward doesn't really know how dangerous Claire is."

I was afraid something bad had happened. I could feel it in my guts. Edward was invulnerable, but what about his mind? Claire separated my soul from the body, for God's sake. What else was she capable of?

"I need someone to come with me and help him."

As I imagined, no one was willing to do it. Too dangerous, too crazy, no one wanted to help a vampire. It was like I was listening to my family all over again. With one huge difference, though. Grace left the group, kneeled at my feet and broke the protection symbol's circle with the blade of a pocket knife.

"Grace, what are you doing?"

Grace got up and looked at me straight in the eyes.

"I want nothing more to give that witch a good lesson," she said. "What do I have to do?"

I gave the others a good look. No one else was volunteering… oh well, Grace did, and I wasn't going to complain.

"Someone paint again this thing on the floor and keep some salt ready. We're going to make a quick exit, but better be prepared."

A quick check from behind the drapes later, I knew we would be able to get out from the house without Grace getting killed. The hard part was to cross the entire reservation in order to escape, but I could count on Andreij and the rest of the family to give us an escort to escape the battle and reach Edward.

"If we have to do this, we better do it now. Grace, you ready?"

Grace's answer was to take a baseball bat in her hands with a threatening look. Ok, I would've taken that as a yes. Grace opened the door, and after a deep breath we both ran outside. Andreij could lead the army in my place, he assured me that and I had no doubt he would've done an excellent job.

I was almost glad I was leaving that battlefield. It wasn't really my battle, or at least not anymore. The only place where I wanted to be was at Claire's cabin. I wanted to see that woman suffer for all the pain she had caused to me, Bella and the tribe.

And Edward, I added. That horrible feeling was always there, and it was impossible to ignore it. Edward… something had happened to Edward. Claire was winning.

Over my dead body, witch, I thought. Resist, Edward… the cavalry is coming.

This battle wasn't lost yet.


End file.
